Former DCFS Worker Faces Pressure to Step Down from the McHenry County Board
McHenry County – McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks has asked County Board member Carlos Acosta of Woodstock to resign. The request from Franks came shortly after the 54-year-old Acosta, a former Illinois Department of Children and Family Services employee, was arrested by McHenry County Sheriff’s Police and charged in connection with his handling of the AJ Freund case. Acosta, a child protective specialist, was one of the investigators for DCFS during the time the Crystal Lake boy was living with his parents and at the time the parents were arrested in connection with the boy’s death. Acosta was initially assigned to look into a bruise on the boy’s right hip.
Franks issued a statement a day after the Sheriff’s Office served arrest warrants on Acosta and his former DCFS supervisor, 48-year-old Andrew Polovin of Island Lake. Acosta and Polovin were both charged with two felony counts of endangering the life of a child and one felony count of reckless conduct.
In Franks statement, “Little AJ’s death wounded McHenry County in the heart. We’re still healing. The system failed AJ. It failed us all. I can’t stress enough the need to overhaul the child welfare system to ensure that this tragedy never happens again, as well as the need to hold people accountable if they were negligent in their duty,” Franks said in his prepared statement.
During the investigation into AJ’s death and prosecution of the boy’s mother, JoAnn Cunningham and case against the child’s father, Andrew Freund Sr., Acosta remained a member of the McHenry County Board, despite public pressure for his resignation. Franks wanted to make it clear that “State law doesn’t give the County Board or the voters the ability to remove Mr. Acosta from office. The decision is his to make, and his alone. However, I believe it’s safe to say that if it was up to the County Board, and up to me, the overwhelming sentiment would be for him to step down. If the public had the power under the law to remove him from office, I have no doubt that the consensus would be to do so,” Franks said.
Franks said he had a talk with Acosta and encouraged him to resign.
“With the charges filed against him, Mr. Acosta can’t continue to be an effective member of the County Board. My opinion is not based on his innocence or guilt, which is up to the court to decide, but his ability to represent the citizens of County Board District 5 with these charges being filed,” Franks said.
Acosta’s term on the county board runs until December of 2022, but as Franks concluded his statement, he asked Acosta to reflect on whether he can continue to conduct the people’s business on the County Board without being compromised in his ability.
“I encourage Mr. Acosta to reflect on this and make the decision to resign, which would be in the best interests of his constituents and the County Board,” Franks said.
McHenry County Sheriff’s Office says Polovin has a morning court date on September 17 on the charges and Acosta goes to court in McHenry County on September 24 facing the same charges.
