Judge allows travel request for former child welfare worker charged in AJ Freund case

Former child welfare worker and sitting McHenry County Board member Carlos Acosta will be allowed to travel to Texas this summer to help a family member move.

Acosta made a brief court appearance Wednesday morning when McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt granted a request to modify the conditions of Acosta's bond and allow him to temporarily travel to Texas in July.

Acosta has been free on bond since September on charges of child endangerment and reckless conduct stemming from a 2018 investigation involving slain Crystal Lake 5-year-old AJ Freund.

Acosta and his Department of Children and Family Services supervisor at the time, Andrew Polovin, investigated a Dec. 18, 2018, report of a large bruise on AJ's hip.

Both men were fired from DCFS in December 2019, after AJ's parents were arrested on murder charges tied to the boy's death.

Acosta and Polovin, who also faces child endangerment and reckless conduct charges, each have pleaded not guilty on all counts.

AJ's mother, JoAnn D. Cunningham, was sentenced in July to 35 years in prison for first-degree murder. The boy's father, Andrew T. Freund Sr., is serving a 30-year sentence for aggravated battery of a child, involuntary manslaughter and concealment of a homicidal death.