A total of 35 people have been arrested in connection with a vehicle theft and title-washing operation that prosecutors say generated approximately $5.5 million through the resale of more than 120 vehicles.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office announced Monday that 34 defendants who were apprehended for their roles in the scheme have pleaded guilty to the operation that ran from 2022 to 2025.

Prosecutors say half-brothers Mark McCall, 34, of Centereach, and Keith Agard, 32, of Port Jefferson Station, were ring leaders instructing their girlfriends, relatives, and friends to buy cars from dealerships across Suffolk, Nassau, Kings, Westchester and Orange counties.

Authorities say the vehicles were then bought using forged documents, including fake pay stubs and utility bills. According to prosecutors, few, if any, payments were ever made on the loans used to acquire the vehicles.

Officials say the group then obtained fraudulent "clean" New York titles free of liens or fraudulently erased them. The vehicles were then sold to internet-based dealers such as CarMax or to unsuspecting buyers through platforms including Facebook Marketplace.

Prosecutors say many of the purchasers were not aware that the vehicles carried outstanding liens or that the titles had been fraudulent.

The defendants were arrested following a nearly two-and-a-half-year investigation known as "Operation Gingerbread Man."