Eugene Goreshter, the one-time bassist and vocalist of experimental rock group Autolux, pleaded guilty in 2019 for attempting to import nearly 30 kilograms of cocaine to the United States from Mexico, according to court records obtained by Pitchfork. Goreshter, who was arrested that year and released from Federal Bureau of Prisons custody last year, is currently subject to a five-year supervised release.
Multiple attempts to reach Goreshter were unsuccessful. The attorney who represented Goreshter in this case declined to share comment or provide contact information, citing client confidentiality.
Goreshter has not been a member of Autolux since 2016, the band revealed publicly for the first time to Pitchfork. Formerly a trio, Autolux’s lineup is currently guitarist-vocalist Greg Edwards (also of alt-rockers Failure) and drummer-vocalist Carla Azar (a session musician who has backed Jack White, Boygenius, Tegan and Sara, and the Who). “We have no comment to make at this time, and Eugene is no longer in Autolux,” a statement from the band’s representative reads. “Please respect Carla and Greg’s privacy on this matter.”
According to a federal complaint, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers searched a 2015 Jeep Cherokee belonging to Goreshter when he attempted to pass through the San Ysidro border crossing into San Diego, California, from Tijuana, Mexico, on the evening of August 16, 2019. An officer noticed a spare tire in the back of his vehicle “that did not match the size of a normal spare tire,” the complaint reads. The officer also noticed the tire was “unusually heavy.”
Goreshter’s Jeep was referred to a secondary search, during which officers found 21 packages hidden inside the spare tire. The contents of the packages tested positive for cocaine. The combined weight of the cocaine was 29.22 kilograms or 64.41 pounds, according to the complaint.
Homeland Security officers then interviewed Goreshter. According to the complaint, during questioning, he admitted to making an agreement with an “unknown individual” in Tijuana to bring the drugs to the United States in exchange for $5,000.
Goreshter was charged with one felony count of importation of cocaine in an amount exceeding five kilograms. After originally entering a plea of not guilty, he struck a plea agreement in which he admitted to “knowingly and intentionally” driving a vehicle with “approximately 29.22 kilograms of cocaine” in it from Mexico into the United States and pleaded guilty to the charge. His guilty plea was accepted at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on December 9, 2019.
In September 2020, Goreshter was sentenced to two years of imprisonment with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, followed by five years of supervised release. He was ordered to surrender into custody no later than January 6, 2021. In sentencing Goreshter, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant recommended to the Bureau of Prisons that he be enrolled in the Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP), available to inmates with substance use disorders in the 12 months before their arrest.
