SAN ANTONIO — A woman is accused of lying about how she was using U.S. Army funds while working at Fort Sam Houston, saying they were for helping military families when she was instead buying millions of dollars' worth of jewelry, clothes, cars and real estate.
Janet Mello, 66, was indicted Wednesday on a slew of charges, including mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and engaging in monetary transactions over $10,000 using criminally derived proceeds, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Officials say Mello was working as a civilian financial program manager at Fort Sam Houston, a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, when she submitting fraudulent paperwork claiming she was using funds to "provide services to military members and their families" through an entity called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, or CHYLD.
In reality, the indictment alleges, CHYLD doesn't provide any of the services Mello claimed it did. Instead she allegedly pocketed more than $100 million she received from the Army for her own benefit.
She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, and is next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 14.
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