Former DCFS Worker In AJ Freund Case Seeks Separate Trial

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — A former Department of Child and Family Service case investigator in McHenry County is requesting his case be separated from his former supervisor's, according to media reports.

Both Carlos Acosta, 55, of Woodstock and Andrew Polovin, 49, of Island Lake, were jointly indicted with child endangerment and reckless conduct for their role in investigating the AJ Freund case. The 5-year-old Crystal Lake boy was killed in his home on Dole Avenue in 2019.

AJ's mother, JoAnn Cunningham, 38, is serving a 35-year prison sentence in connection with AJ's death. She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

AJ's father, Andrew T. Freund, 63, is behind bars after pleading guilty to aggravated battery of a child, concealment of a homicidal death and involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The Northwest Herald reports Acosta is concerned he will not receive a fair trial if Polovin and he are tried together, according to a motion filed in McHenry County states

"If one of the co-defendants testifies on his own behalf, and the other chooses not to testify, the jury will likely draw negative inferences from one defendant's exercise of his privilege against self-incrimination because his codefendant testified," defense attorney Rebecca Lee wrote in a motion. "Such an inference renders the privilege meaningless and creates prejudice that the non-testifying defendant will be unable to have a fair trial."

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