DJ Erick Morillo charged with sexual battery after turning himself in
House music DJ Erick Morillo has been arrested and charged with sexual battery.
According to a report by the Florida news channel Local 10, police say the alleged incident happened in December at Morillo’s home in Miami Beach.
Morillo’s accuser says they both DJ’d at a private party and went to Morillo’s home afterwards with another woman.
She resisted sexual advances by Morillo, became intoxicated and went to a room to sleep, and “reported waking up nude on the bed, with Mr Morillo standing on the side of the bed also nude”, according to the arrest report.
Morillo has consistently denied the accusations, but following a rape kit that tested positive for his DNA, he reportedly turned himself in with his attorney.
Morillo, 49, has had a successful 30-year career in dance music, starting out DJing in clubs in New York and New Jersey. He became a music producer and under the alias Reel 2 Real had three UK Top 10 hits in the mid-1990s, including I Like to Move It, which topped the charts in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Following the success of Reel 2 Real, he stopped using the alias in favour of his own name and became a staple DJ at clubs in Ibiza, Europe and the US, as well as on dance festival lineups.
In 2004 he collaborated with Diddy (formerly Puff Daddy) on three tracks and in 2012, he reached No 3 in the UK charts with Elephant, a track with X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. He has also collaborated with Boy George, Skunk Anansie’s Skin and others.