According to officials, a woman who stole over $100 million from a grant program intended to benefit military families and children received a 15-year sentence in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was found guilty on five counts of mail fraud and five counts of filing a false tax return for the complex scheme, which she carried out over the course of six years while working for the United States Army.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mello was a finance manager for the Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation program at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. The program primarily focused on child and juvenile programs.
In December 2016, she established Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, a company that served primarily as a cover for the fraud. The business’s main goal was to obtain funds through a military grant project, and Mello was able to fraudulently earn millions through it due to her status in the Army.
Mello would deposit grant checks into her personal bank account and use the funds on various luxuries, such as clothing, cars, and real estate, according to prosecutors, rather than using the grant money given to her business to provide the youth and family services that Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development claimed to offer.
According to allegations, Mello misused grant money to purchase ostentatious homes, 82 cars (including a Maserati, Mercedes, 1954 Corvette, and Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle), and $923,000 worth of jewels in one day in 2022.
Authorities claim that throughout the six years her business was in operation, Mello requested and got close to $109 million in grant payments out of 49 separate incidents of fraud. She also provided inaccurate information about her income for the tax years 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 in order to conceal the deception.
“Janet Mello betrayed the trust of the government agency she served and repeatedly lied in an effort to enrich herself,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza stated. “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.”
Read Also:Â Winning Lottery Ticket Stolen by Store Clerk: $1 Million Prize at Stake
The office of Esparza “will continue to work tirelessly to prosecute those who illegally seek personal gain at the expense of their fellow citizens.”
Mello was really sorry, defense attorney Albert Flores told the Associated Press.
“She realizes she committed a crime, she did wrong and is very ashamed,” Flores said. He also told AP that Mello saved many of the items she bought with the stolen funds and hopes they are resold to reimburse the government. Flores said the defense does not intend to appeal the court’s decision.
