A civilian US Army employee known as the “Gucci Goddess” will serve 15 years in prison for stealing more than $108 million from a military family award program and lavishly purchasing luxury homes, several vehicles, and tons of jewels.
Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was sentenced to 180 months in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty in March to mail fraud and submitting a false tax return, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office.
“Mello’s extravagant lifestyle is what brought her down. We discovered that her reported salary was well below the extravagant lifestyle she led. “As we uncovered the details, the criminal scheme grew, the dollar amount increased, and the scope of her spending expanded,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Lucy Tan of IRS Illegal 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.”
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According to The Associated Press, Mello’s defense attorney claims she is regretful.
“She realizes she committed a crime, she did wrong, and she is very ashamed,” said her lawyer, Albert Flores.
Mello worked as a finance manager for the Army at San Antonio’s Fort Sam Houston, where he managed the scheme from 2016 to 2023 under the guise of Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development. Prosecutors referred to CHYLD as “a figment of the defendant’s imagination” in their sentencing brief, recommending 19 ½ years in jail.
According to court filings, she requested $117 million in payments over her six-year tenure as a financial manager and received about $109 million.
Mello’s role as a Financial Program Manager included determining if Military Partnership Grant program monies were available for applicants.
“No one ever questioned the submission of the payment requests because the defendant was seen as a subject matter expert within her office,” the prosecution alleged.
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Mello would create phony memos claiming that CHYLD had been accepted for grant funding. She would then either submit it to her supervisor or, on occasion, falsify her supervisor’s signature and send the memo directly to the Defense Financial Accounting Service, which is in charge of distributing monies to designated businesses.
She then collected the checks from a leased mailbox and deposited them in her bank account.
Mello spent millions of dollars on real estate, clothing, and expensive jewelry. According to court filings, her fleet of at least 82 automobiles, SUVs, motorbikes, a motorhome, and 31 pieces of real estate, including multimillion-dollar houses, including a Mercedes-Benz GLS-63, a 1954 Chevrolet Corvette, a Maserati Gran Turismo, and a Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle.
She overspent on costly purses and jewelry. She spent more than $923,000 on jewelry in a single day in December 2022.
“Janet Mello betrayed the trust of the government agency she served and repeatedly lied 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 all over the world, she selfishly stole it to buy extravagant houses, more than 80 vehicles, and over 1,500 pieces of jewelry.”
Her actions are the exact reverse of what it means to serve your nation, and my office will continue to strive hard to punish those who illegally pursue personal benefit at the expense of their fellow citizens.”
Maria Thomas, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, Central Texas Field Office, stated that corruption and fraud in US Army programs endanger 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,” Lawandcrime stated. “The Army community, and the public, can rest assured that we remain committed to aggressively pursuing anyone that uses government programs for their gain.”