Alleged Street Racing Leader Charged In Gwinnett In Multi-Agency Probe

BUFORD — The accused organizer of an alleged street racing group is facing charges after a multi-agency probe that crossed into the City of Atlanta and Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.

Gwinnett County Police said Jhostin Alexander Bardales, 20, of Buford, was arrested around 8 a.m. Monday in Gwinnett.

The investigation into Bardales began on Aug. 20, when the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol responded to an emergency call in the intersection of Northside Drive and 17th Street.

Gwinnett Police said a Georgia State trooper stopped a driver after seeing a black Ford 150 doing donuts in the intersection. The driver, later identified by Atlanta Police as Bardales, was then arrested.

DeKalb County Police then found a social media account that was directing the event taking place at the intersection, police said.

Atlanta Police were able to pinpoint four intersections in Gwinnett, four in DeKalb and one in Atlanta where Bardales' alleged street racing group was directing racers to that night, sparking the multi-agency probe, police said.

Gwinnett Police did not say when Bardales was released after being arrested by the trooper, but said he was arrested again and booked Monday into the Gwinnett County Jail on suspicion of multiple counts of promotion or organization of exhibition of illegal drag racing.

Bardales was arrested after a search warrant was executed by the Gwinnett County North Precinct Community Response Team, the DeKalb County Intelligence Unit and the Atlanta Police Department Auto Crimes Unit, police said.

"This was a great collaboration between all three jurisdictions, and we want to thank DeKalb County Police and the Atlanta Police Department for their help," Gwinnett Police said in a news release.