Texas Woman Sent to Federal Prison for Stealing $100 Million from Youth Development Program to Fund Her Lavish Lifestyle
Authorities said that a Texas lady was sentenced to federal prison on Tuesday for stealing more than $100 million from a youth development grant program for children of military families and using the money to support an opulent lifestyle.
According to a criminal court docket, the defendant, Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, entered a guilty plea in March to five charges of mail fraud and five counts of submitting a false tax return.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, Ms. Mello was sentenced to 180 months, or 15 years, in prison by Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors claim that Ms. Mello was employed by the U.S. Army as a civilian and that she managed finances for a grant program for children and youngsters at the Fort Sam Houston Base in San Antonio. Determining if funds were available for different groups that submitted grant applications to the 4-H Military Partnership Grant program was one of her responsibilities.
Prosecutors stated that Ms. Mello established a fictitious company named Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, which she used to embezzle Army cash by pretending to offer services to service personnel and their families, starting around the end of 2016 and continuing through at least August 2023. They said that in certain instances, Ms. Mello falsified the digital signature of her boss on the documentation.
Prosecutors claimed Ms. Mello conned her colleagues by using her “experience, expert knowledge of the grant program, and accumulated trust.”
The assistant U.S. attorney, Justin R. Simmons, stated in the government’s sentencing letter that Ms. Mello spent grant money on “high-end jewelry, clothing, vehicles, and real estate” after depositing it into her bank account. The government requested a sentence of nearly 20 years in prison.
The real estate that Ms. Mello and her spouse bought, estimated at $23 million, was in Texas, Colorado, and Maryland.
A fleet of at least 82 vehicles, comprising cars, SUVs, motorcycles, and a mobile home, was also acquired by the couple as per NYTimes. Prosecutors claim that Ms. Mello bought jewels for almost $923,000 in a single day.
Prosecutors claim that Ms. Mello completed 49 applications over the course of six years, taking close to $109 million. Additionally, they said that she deceived on her income taxes in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, causing a tax loss of more than $31 million.
