Former Guam resident indicted in $100 million fraud scheme
A Guam woman was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month in a San Antonio District Court, charged with 10 counts in connection to a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme.
Fifty-seven-year-old Janet Yamanaka Mello was involved in the alleged scheme, putting her under investigation by the IRS and the military.
She's accused of stealing over $100 million in Army funds, meant to help military children, for her own benefit.
The former Guam resident was a U.S. Army civilian employee working as a financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston in the Lone Star state. Court documents allege Mello used her position to submit fraudulent paperwork to funnel funds into her company.
In 2016, she started a business called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, or CHYLD, which was supposed to provide services for military families and children. But the business was a front and no services were provided.
She allegedly used millions of dollars to buy personal items like high-end jewelry, clothing, vehicles and real estate. Court documents list a total of nearly 80 cars up for forfeiture, to include multiple Mercedes- Benzs, Land Rovers, Aston Martins, and Maseratis. A total of 31 real estate properties from Maryland, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Washington is also up for forfeiture.
Mello is charged with mail fraud, engaging in a monetary transaction using criminally derived proceeds, and aggravated identity theft.
According to the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, if convicted she faces “a maximum of 20 years in prison for each fraud charge, up to 10 years in prison for each spending statute charge, and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft charge.”
Mello is set to appear in court today, Dec. 14 in Texas time.
Mello was a 1984 graduate and salutatorian of Notre Dame High School.