A Texas woman who stole over $100 million from a youth development grant program for children of military families and spent the money to fund a lavish lifestyle was sentenced on Tuesday to federal prison, the authorities said.
The defendant, Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, pleaded guilty in March to five counts of mail fraud and five counts of filing a false tax return, according to a criminal court docket.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas sentenced Ms. Mello on Tuesday to 180 months, or 15 years, in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
According to federal prosecutors, Ms. Mello was a civilian employee for the U.S. Army and worked as a financial manager for a child and youth grant program at the Fort Sam Houston Base in San Antonio. Part of her job was to determine whether funding was available for various organizations that applied to the grant program, called the 4-H Military Partnership Grant.
Around the end of 2016 through at least August 2023, Ms. Mello formed a fraudulent business called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, which she used to steal Army funds by falsely claiming it provided services to military members and their families, prosecutors said. In some cases, Ms. Mello forged her supervisor’s digital signature on the paperwork, they said.
Ms. Mello used her “experience, expert knowledge of the grant program, and accumulated trust,” to swindle her colleagues, prosecutors said.
Once she received a grant check, Ms. Mello deposited it into her bank account and spent the money on “high-end jewelry, clothing, vehicles and real estate,” Justin R. Simmons, the assistant U.S. attorney, wrote in the government’s sentencing memorandum, requesting a nearly 20-year prison sentence.
Ms. Mello and her husband purchased real estate in Texas, Colorado and Maryland, valued at $23 million, prosecutors said. The couple also purchased a fleet of at least 82 vehicles, including cars, SUVs, motorcycles and a motor home. According to prosecutors, Ms. Mello spent more than $923,000 shopping for jewelry in a single day.
Ms. Mello filled out 49 applications in six years, stealing nearly $109 million, according to prosecutors. She also lied on her income taxes in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, resulting in a tax loss of over $31 million, they said.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas in a news release.
Lucy Tan, the acting special agent in charge of the I.R.S. Criminal Investigation’s Houston field office, said that Ms. Mello’s “penchant for extravagance is what brought her down.”
“As we uncovered the details, the criminal scheme grew, the dollar amount grew, and the reach of her spending grew,” Ms. Tan said. “Financial crimes have victims, and this one took opportunities away from the children and families of our military men and women.”
The post Texas Woman Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Fraud Scheme appeared first on New York Times.