One of two former Illinois child welfare workers who investigated abuse allegations involving a 5-year-old boy whose beaten body was found in a shallow grave last year pleaded not guilty Thursday to child endangerment and reckless conduct charges. Acosta, 54, is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 24. Polovin was Acosta’s supervisor at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in the months before Andrew “AJ” Freund’s body was found dead near his family’s Crystal Lake home in April 2019, days after his parents reported him missing.
