Con artist Janet Mello who stole nearly $109M from US Army to buy mansions, luxury cars sentenced to 15 years in prison

The Texas “Gucci Goddess” con artist guilty of stealing nearly $109 million from US military families to splurge on luxury properties across five states and a fleet of cars was slapped with a lengthy prison sentence for her brazen selfishness.

Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on Tuesday for conning her way to an extravagant lifestyle, according to the Department of Justice .

The swindler pled guilty to five counts of mail fraud and five counts of filing a false tax return in March.

Mello’s egocentric actions were unearthed in Dec. 2023, when she worked as a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston.

In her role, Mello was in charge of handling funding for youth programs on the San Antonio military base.

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In 2016, the fraudster created the fake vendor Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development (CHYLD) to provide services to military members’ families through the 4-H program, which “focuses on positive youth development through providing opportunities for youth to engage in intentional learning experiences.”

Mello would receive grant checks for the organization but deposited the cash into her bank account instead of funneling the money into the youth programs.

Prosecutors revealed that she repeated the process 49 times during a six-year run and would often forge her supervisor’s digital signature on the paperwork.

Mello requested approximately $117,000,000 in payments and received roughly $108,917,749, according to the DOJ.

During her con, the organization never provided a dime of financial aid to help the children of service members.

She also didn’t accurately report her income from 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, excluding the millions she fraudulently received through CHYLD.

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“Janet Mello betrayed the trust of the government agency she served and repeatedly lied in an effort to enrich herself,” said US Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas.

“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.”

Mello was said to have purchased 31 different real estate properties in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington — with her home in Preston, Md., valued at $3.1 million on a sprawling 58-acre property, consisting of eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, and 55 garage spaces.

The swindler’s extravagant fleet of more than 80 vintage high-performance cars and motorcycles, which included four Ducatis, 16 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, two Aston Martins, a 1966 Ford Mustang, and a 1954 Chevrolet Corvette — some of which are valued at more than $150,000.

Mello’s inconsiderate spending was so out of hand that couriers delivering packages from high-end brands like Coach, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton dubbed her the “Gucci Goddess.”

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The con artist’s defense attorney, Albert Flores, said Mello is deeply guilt-ridden over her actions.

“She realizes she committed a crime, she did wrong and is very ashamed,” Flores said.

Flores said that his client had saved many of the items she had bought with the stolen money and hoped they could be sold to reimburse the government.

“I don’t think the court gave us enough credit for that, but we can’t complain,” Flores stated.

Mello’s defense attorney said they have no plans to appeal the verdict.

“Mello’s penchant for extravagance is what brought her down. We identified that her reported income was well below the lavish lifestyle she lived. As we uncovered the details, the criminal scheme grew, the dollar amount grew, and the reach of her spending grew,” said Lucy Tan, acting special agent in charge for the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Houston Field Office, in a statement.

“Financial crimes have victims, and this one took opportunities away from the children and families of our military men and women.”

With Post wires

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