Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Woman Claims Latin Singer Molested Her

CHICAGO (CN) - Merengue singer Elvis Crespo tried to take a woman's clothes off and have sex with her at a Chicago nightclub where he was performing, the woman claims in court.

Leoanny De La Cruz sued Elvis Crespo and Club 2047, dba V-Live Chicago, in Cook County Court.

It's unclear from the complaint where she claims he molested her: on stage, in a dressing room, on the floor of the club or elsewhere.

Crespo, "an internationally known singer and performer," performed at V-Live nightclub on Feb. 18, 2011, according to the complaint.

Crespo won a Grammy award for best merengue performance in 1999, and a Latin Grammy for best merengue album in 2004. His single, "Yo No Soy Un Monstruo," (I'm Not a Monster) hit No. 1 on Billboard's Tropical charts in 2012.

De La Cruz claims that on the night of his V-Live performance, "Crespo, without any encouragement or inducement by plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz, and without plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz' consent, forcibly touched, grabbed, and kissed Leoanny De La Cruz and laid hands on plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz' person.

"That at the aforesaid time and place, defendant Elvis Crespo, without any encouragement or inducement by plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz, and without plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz' consent, attempted to move and remove articles of Leoanny De La Cruz' clothing.

"That at the aforesaid time and place, defendant Elvis Crespo, without any encouragement or inducement by plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz, and without plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz' consent, attempted to forcibly commit an act of sexual intercourse on plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz."

De La Cruz claims the club "failed to monitor and supervise the use of its facilities," and "failed to prevent the conduct causing plaintiff Leoanny De La Cruz' injuries."

In 2009, a woman told police that Crespo masturbated on an airplane and exposed himself on a flight from Houston to Miami, according to the Huffington Post.

The captain radioed the control tower and police questioned Crespo on arrival in Miami, but did not arrest him, according to the Huffington Post story.

De La Cruz seeks more than $30,000 in damages for battery, emotional distress and negligence.

She is represented by Scott Blumenshine with Meyer & Blumenshine.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...