Army employee Janet Mello pleads guilty to stealing more than $100M from Army to purchase luxury items

foxbusiness.com:

Check out what's clicking on FoxBusiness.com

A U.S. Army employee pleaded guilty to defrauding the government following allegations she stole $108 million in Army funds to spend on personal items, including jewelry, clothing, cars and homes.

Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was accused of defrauding the government out of $108 million while working as a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. She pleaded guilty to all five counts of mail fraud and five counts of filing a false tax return after she was indicted in December, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Mello was accused of engaging in a fraud scheme in which she allegedly had regularly submitted fraudulent paperwork requesting funding from the Army for her Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, or CHYLD, organization.

The indictment claims Mello's CHYLD «did not provide any services» and that she instead used the funds to purchase millions of dollars in jewelry, clothing, vehicles and real estate.

BP MANAGER'S HUSBAND PLEADS GUILTY TO INSIDER TRADING, LISTENED IN ON WIFE'S WORK CALLS

Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, pleaded guilty to defrauding the government following allegations she stole $108 million in Army funds to spend on personal items, including jewelry, clothing, cars and homes. (Getty Images)

According to federal prosecutors, she was initially charged with five counts of mail fraud, four counts of engaging in a monetary transaction over $10,000 using criminally derived proceeds and one count of aggravated identity theft, following allegations she falsified the digital signature of a supervisor on multiple occasions.

Mello began the scheme for the military's 4-H program in 2016 and was accused of submitting fraudulent