Clockwise from top left: Janet Yamanaka Mello’s sprawling mansion (court documents), Mello walks into court (KSAT/YouTube), 1905 Indian Prince, 1954 Chevrolet Corvette and fancy jewelry (court documents).
A civilian U.S. Army employee dubbed the “Gucci Goddess” who stole over $108 million from a grant program for military families and lived lavishly buying fancy homes, scores of vehicles and boxes of jewelry will spend 15 years in prison.
Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was sentenced on Tuesday to 180 months after she pleaded guilty in March to charges of mail fraud and filing a false tax return, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
“Mello’s penchant for extravagance is what brought her down. We identified that her reported income was well below the lavish lifestyle she lived. As we uncovered the details, the criminal scheme grew, the dollar amount grew, and the reach of her spending grew,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Lucy Tan of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Houston Field Office. “Financial crimes have victims, and this one took opportunities away from the children and families of our military men and women.”
Mello’s defense attorney said she’s remorseful, The Associated Press reported.
“She realizes she committed a crime, she did wrong and is very ashamed,” said the lawyer, Albert Flores.
Mello was a financial manager for the Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and ran the scam from 2016 to 2023 through a phony business called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD). In the government’s sentencing memo requesting the Court sentence her to 19 ½ years in prison, prosecutors called CHYLD “a figment of the defendant’s imagination.”
Court documents say that over six years as a financial manager, she requested $117 million in payments and received nearly $109 million.
Part of Mello’s job as a Financial Program Manager was to determine whether Military Partnership Grant program funds were available for those who applied.
“No one ever questioned the submission of the payment requests because the defendant was seen as a subject matter expert within her office,” prosecutors said.
Mello would draft fraudulent memos indicating CHYLD was approved to receive grant funds. She would then either submit it to her supervisor and on other occasions forge her supervisor’s signature and submit the memo directly to the Defense Financial Accounting Service, which handles distributing the funds to the approved entities.
She then picked up the checks from a rented mailbox and deposited them into her bank account.
Mello used the money to buy millions in real estate, clothing, and high-end jewelry.
Court documents said a Mercedes-Benz GLS-63, a 1954 Chevrolet Corvette, a Maserati Gran Turismo, and a Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle were among her fleet of at least 82 cars, SUVs, motorcycles, a motor home and 31 pieces of real estate, including multimillion-dollar homes, across the country.
She spent lavishly on designer handbags and jewelry. On one day in December 2022, she spent over $923,000 on jewelry, court documents said.
“Janet Mello betrayed the trust of the government agency she served and repeatedly lied in an effort to enrich herself,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas. “Rather than $109 million in federal funds going to the care of military children throughout the world, she selfishly stole that money to buy extravagant houses, more than 80 vehicles and over 1,500 pieces of jewelry. Her actions reflect exactly the opposite of what it means to serve your country, and my office will continue to work tirelessly to prosecute those who illegally seek personal gain at the expense of their fellow citizens.”
Special Agent in Charge Maria Thomas for the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, Central Texas Field Office, said corruption and fraud in U.S. Army programs jeopardize the safety and security of soldiers and their families.
“When discovered, fraudulent activities by Army employees will not be tolerated, and those involved will be brought to justice,” Thomas said. “The Army community, and the public, can rest assured that we remain committed to aggressively pursuing anyone that uses government programs for their own personal gain.”
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