Ex-Illinois child welfare worker guilty of endangerment after boy beaten to death by mom

WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) — A judge has convicted a former state child welfare worker of child endangerment in connection with the 2019 beating death of a 5-year-old suburban Chicago boy by his mother. Carlos Acosta was found guilty Friday of the child endangerment charge but acquitted of a reckless conduct charge. Acosta was a case investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The judge says he could not find Acosta’s supervisor guilty of either charge because he did not know how much he knew about the abuse. Andrew “AJ” Freund of Crystal Lake was killed in April 2019. His mother, JoAnn Cunningham, is serving a 35-year sentence for his murder.