diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java
index e253dbb2d..ab01d127a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import java.util.ListIterator;
 import org.apache.lucene.queryparser.flexible.core.util.StringUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.BoolQueryBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilder;
+import org.apache.lucene.queryparser.flexible.standard.QueryParserUtil;
 import org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.core.query.Criteria;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
  * @author Franck Marchand
  * @author Artur Konczak
  * @author Rasmus Faber-Espensen
+ * @author James Bodkin
  */
 class CriteriaQueryProcessor {
 
@@ -141,7 +143,7 @@ class CriteriaQueryProcessor {
 		OperationKey key = entry.getKey();
 		QueryBuilder query = null;
 
-		String searchText = StringUtils.toString(value);
+		String searchText = QueryParserUtil.escape(StringUtils.toString(value));
 
 		switch (key) {
 			case EQUALS:
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java
index c694d62cb..3c5af4205 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringRunner;
  * @author Rizwan Idrees
  * @author Mohsin Husen
  * @author Peter-Josef Meisch
+ * @author James Bodkin
  */
 @RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
 @ContextConfiguration("classpath:elasticsearch-template-test.xml")
@@ -798,6 +799,31 @@ public class CriteriaQueryTests {
 		assertThat(page.getContent().get(0).getMessage()).isEqualTo("ab");
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void shouldEscapeValue() {
+
+		// given
+		String documentId = randomNumeric(5);
+		SampleEntity sampleEntity = new SampleEntity();
+		sampleEntity.setId(documentId);
+		sampleEntity.setMessage("Hello World!");
+		sampleEntity.setVersion(System.currentTimeMillis());
+
+		IndexQuery indexQuery = new IndexQuery();
+		indexQuery.setId(documentId);
+		indexQuery.setObject(sampleEntity);
+		elasticsearchTemplate.index(indexQuery);
+		elasticsearchTemplate.refresh(SampleEntity.class);
+
+		CriteriaQuery criteriaQuery = new CriteriaQuery(new Criteria("message").is("Hello World!"));
+
+		// when
+		SampleEntity sampleEntity1 = elasticsearchTemplate.queryForObject(criteriaQuery, SampleEntity.class);
+
+		// then
+		assertThat(sampleEntity1).isNotNull();
+	}
+
 	@Builder
 	@Setter
 	@Getter