IL - Andrew Freund, 5, Crystal Lake, 17 April 2019 *ARRESTS* *mother guilty* #5

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Friday, August 28th:
*Status Hearing (@ 9am CT) – IL – Andrew “AJ” Freund, Jr. (5) (reported missing April 17, 2018, Crystal Lake; found buried in shallow grave on April 24, 2019, near Woodstock) – for *Andrew T. Freund, Sr. (60/now 61) “father” arrested (4/24/19), charged (4/25/19), indicted (5/9/19) & arraigned (5/10/19) with 5 counts of 1st degree murder, 3 counts of aggravated battery, 1 count of aggravated domestic battery, 1 count of failure to report death of child, 1 count of concealing a homicidal death (burying body), 1 count concealing death of a person, 1 count of circumstance of endangerment/death, 1 count abuse of corpse, 1 count of destroying evidence, 1 count of false info to LE, 2 counts of aggravated battery to child, 1 count of reckless conduct/great bodily harm, 1 count of unlawful restraint & 1 count of causing child to be endangered. Plead not guilty. $5M bond.
Waived Jury Trial for Bench trial-no date set.
Court hearing from 4/25/19 thru 4/1/20 reference post #778 here:
GUILTY - IL - Andrew Freund, 5, Crystal Lake, 17 April 2019 *mother & bf arrested* - #5
6/18/29 Update: Status hearing was continued due to COVID-19 to 7/30/20. 7/30/20 Update: Freund's appointed attorney, Special Public Defender Henry Sugden, told McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt he was having "pretty serious conversations" with prosecutors about reaching a potential negotiated plea. The attorney declined to say what 61-year-old Freund might be willing to plead guilty to or how much time he could receive. Sugden said he hopes to have the terms of any possible plea bargain worked out by Freund's Aug. 28 court date.
*JoAnn D. Cunningham (35) – 12/5/19: Plead guilty. Sentenced on 7/17/20 to 35 years in prison & will have to serve 100% of her sentence before she is eligible for release. If released at the age of 72, she would be required to register as a person who has committed violence against children & also she will need to serve an additional 3 years of mandatory supervised released.
 
The criminal case against the father could reach a conclusion Sept. 16, when attorneys anticipate a potential plea deal.

McHenry County Assistant State's Attorney Randi Freese and Freund's appointed attorney, Henry Sugden, don't expect the case to go to trial, however.

"I believe we will be able to resolve this on Sept. 16," Freese told the judge.

If the case does make it to trial, it will begin Dec. 9 and could last about three days.

Tentative December trial set for Andrew Freund as attorneys anticipate September resolution
 
Lusitana said:
Yeah, I was under he impression that the gave the body's location and that's what lead to AJ being found. So I assumed he already had one. But I might be totally wrong, I get cases mixed up all the time.
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Same here. He folded like a deck of cards pretty quickly, he knew that would work out in his favor better in the end.
 
Niner said:
I hope he gets LWOP at least - maybe parole in 30 years, 40, 50 years...
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Unfortunately, I don't see him getting that many years based on the fact that it sounds like most of the damning evidence of abuse and the fatal beating (the recordings from the phone) seemed to be against JoAnn. The focus of any plea deal AF Sr. may be offered will probably be for the charges relating to burying AJ/lying to police and reporting him "missing", but we'll see what happens. I could be way off. We really don't know of any other evidence the police may have gathered aside from the recordings recovered from JoAnn's iCloud account. JMO.
 
Here are his charges

with 5 counts of 1st degree murder, 3 counts of aggravated battery, 1 count of aggravated domestic battery, 1 count of failure to report death of child, 1 count of concealing a homicidal death (burying body), 1 count concealing death of a person, 1 count of circumstance of endangerment/death, 1 count abuse of corpse, 1 count of destroying evidence, 1 count of false info to LE, 2 counts of aggravated battery to child, 1 count of reckless conduct/great bodily harm, 1 count of unlawful restraint & 1 count of causing child to be endangered.

so - 5 counts of 1st degree murder sounds pretty serious to me - okay than 75 years
 
Thanks for the info on the 2 DCFS employees. I have not found them in the court site. So I'm going to assume they did NOT make bond last night.

Friday, Sept. 11th:
*First Appearance Hearing (@ am CT) – IL – Andrew “AJ” Freund, Jr. (5) (reported missing April 17, 2018, Crystal Lake; found buried in shallow grave on April 24, 2019, near Woodstock) – *Carlos Acosta (54) arrested & charged (9/10/20) with 2 felony counts of endangering the life of a child & 1 felony count of reckless conduct. Bond $20K.
*Andrew Polovin (48) arrested & charged (9/10/20) with 2 felony counts of endangering the life of a child & 1 felony count of reckless conduct. Bond $20K.
A pair of former child welfare employees who had prior contact with slain AJ Freund & his family were arrested Thursday, 9/10/20 on child endangerment charges. McHenry County Board member & former Illinois Dept. of Children Family Services employees Carlos Acosta, 54, was arrested & charged with two felony counts of endangering the life of a child and one felony count of reckless conduct. Also arrested was Acosta’s former supervisor, Andrew Polovin, 48, of Island Lake, on the same charges, according to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. A grand jury approved the charges Thursday, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said.
9/10/20 Update: If the pair is unable to post bond overnight, they could make brief court appearances Friday morning, 9/11/20 at the McHenry County Jail in Woodstock, as is standard practice. Both men’s bonds were set at $20,000 each as of Thursday evening, jail records show. They each would need to post $2,000 bail to be released.
 
Two former DCFS staff members in AJ Freund case arrested, charged with child endangerment

Two former state child welfare officials who were involved in an abuse investigation four months before 5-year-old AJ Freund’s tragic death were arrested Thursday, both facing felony charges.

Carlos Acosta, an elected McHenry County board member, and his former supervisor, Andrew Polovin, are charged with endangering the life of a child and reckless conduct, records show.

Bail was set at $20,000 for each, according to the McHenry County sheriff’s office. Acosta, 54, of Woodstock, posted bond hours after his arrest. Polovin, 48, of Island Lake, had also bonded out by Friday morning, a sheriff’s office official said.

The men left the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in December following a lengthy internal disciplinary process. DCFS officials have declined to say whether they were fired or voluntarily quit.

Late Thursday, a DCFS spokesman declined to comment on the criminal charges.

Further details about the allegations were not available late Thursday.
 
If anyone wants a refresher on the DCFS complaints, it is outlined in this article from Oct., 2019.

"The report found: “It was because of the indifference and incompetence of the department’s child protection investigators and supervisor that the opportunity to alter this family’s disastrous course was missed.”

AJ Freund case shows lapses in protection by child welfare workers
 
Acosta:

Docket:
iled
09/11/2020 Type
BONTP Description
BOND - TEN PERCENT
09/11/2020 NOTEMC NOTICE - REQUEST FOR EXTENDED MEDIA COVERAGE
09/11/2020 REQEMC REQUEST - NEWS MEDIA FOR EXTENDED MEDIA COVERAGE
09/11/2020 WARS WARRANT - SERVED

09/10/2020 IND INDICTMENT
09/10/2020 ORD ORDER


Future Court Events
Date Time Room Event Type
09/24/2020 9:00 AM 302 ARRAIGNMENT

09/17/2020 9:00 AM 302 REQUEST - EXTENDED MEDIA COVERAGE

Previous Court Events
Date Room Event Type/Result Result
09/10/2020 GJ GRAND JURY ISSUANCE - WARRANT

link: 20CF000703 - Public Case Access


Polovin:
Docket:
Filed
09/11/2020 Type
BONTP Description
BOND - TEN PERCENT
09/11/2020 NOTEMC NOTICE - REQUEST FOR EXTENDED MEDIA COVERAGE
09/11/2020 REQEMC REQUEST - NEWS MEDIA FOR EXTENDED MEDIA COVERAGE
09/11/2020 WARS WARRANT - SERVED

09/10/2020 IND INDICTMENT
09/10/2020 ORD ORDER


Future Court Events
Date Time Room Event Type
09/17/2020 9:00 AM 302 ARRAIGNMENT

09/15/2020 9:00 AM 302 REQUEST - EXTENDED MEDIA COVERAGE

Previous Court Events
Date Room Event Type/Result Result
09/10/2020 GJ GRAND JURY ISSUANCE - WARRANT

link: 20CF000704 - Public Case Access
 
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