California indie-rock star charged with heinous crimes ahead of LA concert

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The frontman of a popular Southern California band that performed at Coachella this year was charged unlawful acts involving a child only days before he was to play a show in Los Angeles.

Mauricio Tapia, 26, of Los Retros, was hit with four felony counts of unlawful acts with a child under the age of 10 in Ventura County Superior Court on Monday.

Tapia also faces several disturbing special allegations, including that the victim was vulnerable and that he allegedly took advantage of them from a position of trust.

The Oxnard native’s arrest came days before Los Retros, which played at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, was scheduled to perform at the Stones Throw 30 music festival on Friday in LA. The organizer removed Los Retros due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Los Retros had more than 2.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with one song, “Someone to Spend Time With,” topping more than 271 million listens.

Tapia has not entered a plea, and his bail has been set at $3 million.

The band’s label, Stones Throw Records, announced earlier this week that it was dropping the group.

“Yesterday we learned of extremely serious and disturbing allegations against Mauri Tapia, professionally known as Los Retros,” the record company wrote in a statement.

“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.”

Tapia founded Los Retros in 2016. His next court date is scheduled for Oct. 22.

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