The Gwinnett County Police Department along with other agencies arrested on Monday a suspect wanted for organizing illegal drag racing.
Gwinnett County officials said Jhostin Alexander Bardales, 20, of Buford, was taken into custody at around 8 a.m. after a search warrant was executed by the Gwinnett County North Precinct Community Response Team, along with the assistance of the Dekalb County Intelligence Unit and the Atlanta Police Department Auto Crimes Unit.
Authorities executed the warrant based on an investigation from the Atlanta Police Department from an incident on Aug. 20 when Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol responded to a 911 call at the intersection of Northside Drive and 17th St in Northwest Atlanta.
At that incident, GSP troopers arrested the driver of a black F-150 who was doing donuts in the intersection. Dekalb County Police then identified the social media account that organized the event.
Further investigation by the Atlanta Police Department determined Bardales was the organizer of the event.
During that investigation, APD identified nine intersections that the street racing group directed other racers to go to that night. Four locations in Gwinnett County, Four in Dekalb County and one in Atlanta.
The Gwinnett County Police Department, Atlanta Police and Dekalb County Police began working together to investigate the incident.
Bardales was arrested and booked into the Gwinnett County Jail on multiple counts of Promotion or Organization of Exhibition of Illegal Drag Racing. More charges may be pending from different departments.
