Judge sentences former Illinois child welfare worker to prison for boy's death

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge sentenced a former Illinois state child welfare worker Thursday to six months in prison in connection with death of a 5 year old boy.

Lake County Associate Judge George Strickland also ordered Carlos Acosta to contribute $1,000 to a local child advocacy center and perform 200 hours of public service, reported the Chicago Tribune.

Strickland acquitted Acosta of reckless driving, but condemned him of child endangerment in October in connection with the death of Andrew “AJ” Freund of Crystal Lake. Acosta was accused of ignoring numerous warning signs that the boy had been abused before his death.

The boy died in April 2019 after his mother, JoAnn Cunningham, beat him. She is serving a 35-year prison sentence for his murder. The boy's father, Andrew Freund Sr., was sentenced to 30 years in prison for covering up the murder by burying the boy's body in a field.

Police took AJ into protective custody in December 2018 after an officer noticed a large bruise on the boy's hip. The officer had gone to the boy's home after his mother called police to report that her ex-boyfriend had stolen her cell phone and a drug used to treat heroin addiction.

A doctor recommended that the boy not be returned to his mother, but Acosta ended protective custody and let the boy go home with his father. The judge found that Acosta's reports repeatedly omitted potential signs of abuse, such as marks on the boy's face and the family's terrible living conditions.

Defense attorneys Rebecca Lee and Jamie Wombacher argued that prosecutors and witnesses were speculating and using the hindsight of the child's death to scapegoat Acosta and that the Department of Children and Youth Services the state's family was violating a court order limiting investigators' cases.