Former DCFS employee to be sentenced in death of 5-year-old AJ Fruend

Neshmia Malik and Erik Runge

6 minutes ago

WOODSTOCK, Ill. — The former DCFS employee accused and convicted of negligence in the death of a 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning.

This is the first such conviction in Illinois, but before a sentence is handed down, the former DCFS employee will request a new trial.

Without hesitation and with deep thought, a McHenry County judge last October came clean about former DCFS employee Carlos Acosta and his former supervisor Andrew Polovin for failing to protect 5-year-old AJ Fruend. In other words, they are not doing their job.

“He died in pain and I hold you both and DCFS responsible,” Judge Strickland said.

Fruend's mother was convicted of AJ's murder and his father was also convicted on charges related to his murder. In 2019, the child's body was found in a shallow grave in Woodstock. Acosta was AJ's social worker, and throughout the trial, prosecutors shared several police reports about AJ's parents' drug use and unsafe conditions in his home, as well as medical reports alleging bruises on his body.

The judge called some of Acosta's reports pure fiction.

“At the end of the day, this is a failure to investigate. So I find you guilty of neglect and child endangerment on counts one or two,” the judge said.

His former supervisor was found not guilty but certainly not innocent in this case.

“As far as I am concerned, you have completely abdicated your responsibility in this matter. However, since I do not know exactly what you knew and how you knew it, I cannot find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, so I find you not guilty.

The defense argued in part that it was the system that failed AJ, not his clients. The prosecution celebrated the conviction despite the split verdict. They believed the judge was fair and that the conviction alone did justice for AJ.

Acosta will request a new trial Thursday morning before his sentencing. If he refuses, he risks up to 10 years in prison.