Civilian US Army Staffer Gets 15 Years In $108M Scam

Law & Crime reports:

A civilian U.S. Army employee dubbed the “Gucci Goddess” who stole over $108 million from a grant program for military families and lived lavishly buying fancy homes, scores of vehicles and boxes of jewelry will spend 15 years in prison. Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was sentenced on Tuesday to 180 months after she pleaded guilty in March to charges of mail fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.

Mello was a financial manager for the Army and ran the scam from 2016 to 2023 through a phony business called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD). Court documents said a Mercedes-Benz GLS-63, a 1954 Chevrolet Corvette, a Maserati Gran Turismo, and a Ferrari Fratelli motorcycle were among her fleet of at least 82 cars, SUVs, motorcycles, a motor home and 31 pieces of real estate, including multimillion-dollar homes.

Read the full article. According to the DOJ, on one day she spent nearly a million dollars just on jewelry.

Civilian employee dubbed ‘Gucci Goddess’ stole $108M meant for Army families because ‘she thought she deserved’ 31 properties, 80 cars https://t.co/vY54MewNYx

— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) July 24, 2024

Texas woman who scammed the US Army out of more than $100M
sentenced https://t.co/HrPnaTpX1O

— Sync Mashene | Las Vegas (@syncmashene) July 24, 2024