A San Antonio woman, who apparently decided the Army's purse was hers for the taking, has been slapped with a slew of charges over an audacious $100 million fraud scheme. Janet Yamanaka Mello, 66, employed at Fort Sam Houston, is accused of funneling hefty sums into her pockets to bankroll a lifestyle dripping with luxury, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Mello, serving as a civilian financial program manager, allegedly cooked up fake paperwork claiming that Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD) rolled out the red carpet of services for military families. In truth, this organization, under her control, did squat. According to KSAT's coverage of the scandal, Mello’s plush purchases reportedly included ice, threads, wheels, and digs amounting to millions—a far cry from the support she claimed to provide.
Fortified by what seems to be solid evidence, the feds have charged her with five counts of mail fraud, four counts of engaging in transactions with criminally derived funds over $10,000, and one count of aggravated identity theft, as they said. She's alleged to have even gone as far as forging the digi-signature of her own boss to keep the gravy train chugging, authorities added.
With an indictment freshly served, Mello’s set to step into the legal spotlight for a December 14 court date. She's eyeballing up to 20 years in the slammer for each fraud count and 10 years per transaction rap, plus a two-year cherry on top if convicted of identity theft, the U.S. Department of Justice detailed. On top of that, should she be found guilty, she'll have to forfeit her extravagant haul obtained by her alleged charades, according to prosecutors.
IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division are the ones unraveling this tapestry of deceit, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Simmons and Antonio Franco spearheading the prosecution's charge. And while the indictment's merely the starting pistol of this legal marathon, Mello's presumed innocent unless proven otherwise, the feds reminded, in a lesson as old as the courtroom itself.
