A U.S. Army civilian employee is charged with attempting to defraud the government of more than $100 million in taxpayers’ funds.
A federal grand jury has indicted her on 10 counts of fraud, alleging that she diverted money from her job into a sham company she established that was supposed to be dedicated to addressing the physical and mental health needs of children.
The Justice Department released a statement on the indictment, which claimed Janet Yamanaka Mello, who worked as a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, stole millions of Army funds “by regularly submitting fraudulent paperwork that indicated an entity she controlled, Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD), was entitled to receive funds” from the military branch.
Authorities say for almost seven years, she pulled the money from the 4-H Military Partnership Grant program to fund this bogus enterprise under the guise that CHYLD would “provide meaningful youth development opportunities for military-connected children.”
The indictment states that Mello “played on the trust she had developed over the years with her supervisors and co-workers to secure the necessary approvals.”
Mello is now facing charges including five counts of mail fraud, four counts of engaging in a monetary transaction exceeding $10,000 using unlawfully acquired proceeds, and one count of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Each fraud charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years, each spending statute charge carries a maximum of 10 years each, and a mandatory minimum of two years for the aggravated identity theft charge. If convicted as charged, Mello could be sentenced to a maximum of 142 years in prison.
As per the statement, she represented to the government that her organization provided essential services to military members and their families. However, instead of fulfilling service…
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