Mauricio Tapia, the 26-year-old Oxnard musician who performs as Los Retros, has been charged with four felony counts of unlawful acts with a child under the age of 10 in Ventura County Superior Court. The charges were filed Monday, just days before his band was slated to play a Los Angeles music festival.
Prosecutors added special allegations to the case, including claims that the victim was vulnerable and that Tapia used a position of trust to carry out the alleged abuse.
Bail has been set at $3 million. Tapia has not yet entered a plea. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 22.
Los Retros, the band Tapia founded in 2016, had built a substantial following, drawing more than 2.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The group’s track “Someone to Spend Time With” has been streamed over 271 million times, and the band performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival earlier this year.
The arrest came just before Los Retros was set to perform at the Stones Throw 30 music festival in Los Angeles on Friday. Festival organizers pulled the band from the lineup, citing “unforeseen circumstances.”
Stones Throw Records, the band’s label, announced this week that it was severing ties with Tapia. In a statement, the label said it had initially cancelled the performance before learning the full nature of the allegations.
“Yesterday we learned of extremely serious and disturbing allegations against Mauri Tapia, professionally known as Los Retros,” the label wrote. “We had previously announced the cancellation of his scheduled performance at Stones Throw 30 before we were aware of these circumstances. In light of this information, we are taking steps to disassociate ourselves from Tapia and his work. We take these allegations extremely seriously and will continue to assess the situation as more information becomes available.”
The case remains pending in Ventura County, where Tapia is next due in court on Oct. 22.
