In a recent development, an employee of the U.S. Army is facing serious charges for purportedly embezzling over $100 million in Army funds. This individual, identified as Janet Yamanaka Mello, aged 57 and employed as a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston, has been implicated in a complex fraud scheme.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas disclosed on December 6 that Mello is now confronting ten charges related to the alleged fraud. According to court documents, Mello allegedly regularly submitted deceptive paperwork, seeking financial support from the Army for her organization named Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD).
The paperwork claimed that CHYLD offered services to military members and their families. Shockingly, Mello managed to secure over $100 million in Army funding based on these false claims before authorities intervened, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Contrary to her assertions, the indictment contends that CHYLD did not provide any services. Instead, Mello is accused of misusing the obtained funds to make extravagant personal purchases, including jewelry, clothing, vehicles, and real estate amounting to millions of dollars.
The charges brought against Mello include five counts of mail fraud, four counts of engaging in monetary transactions exceeding $10,000 using criminally derived proceeds, and one count of aggravated identity theft. The latter charge relates to allegations of falsifying the digital signature of one of her supervisors on multiple occasions.
The U.S. Attorney's Office highlighted that if convicted, Mello could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for defrauding the Army, up to 10 years in prison for spending the fraudulent funds, and a minimum of two years in prison for falsifying her supervisor's signature.
Moreover, the indictment seeks the forfeiture of the property allegedly acquired by Mello using the ill-gotten funds. Mello appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry J. Bemporad on December 14 for her first scheduled court appearance. The U.S. Attorney's Office emphasized that a federal district court judge will determine the sentence, considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The investigation into this case is ongoing, with both the IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division actively involved.
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