Con artist dubbed 'Gucci Goddess' admits she stole $108M from US Army to buy luxury property and cars
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Federal Court Documents / KSAT
A con artist has confessed to stealing millions from the US army to supply her lavish luxury living.
Con artist Janet Mello, also known as the ‘Gucci Goddess’, has been wrapped up in a criminal investigation for allegedly stealing a staggering $100 million from the US army.
In December of last year, she was charged with five counts of mail fraud and five counts of filing a false tax return with the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.
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On Wednesday (February 28) Mello pleaded guilty to the many fraud and tax charges levied against her.
The 57-year-old worked as a civilian financial program manager at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston and is believed to have raked in as much as $130,000 a year in the role.
So, quite a nice salary, but the brazen Mello seemed to want a lot more than what that salary could buy.
Mello went on to create a business titled 'Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development'.
Mello claimed that her business provided services to military members and their families through the 4-H program, but she used the funds on luxury items and real estate.
The program alleged to "focuses on positive youth development through providing opportunities for youth to engage in intentional learning experiences."
However, the seven-year-long scheme, according to prosecutors, had only been used to steal money from the US government and didn’t provide any financial aid.
With this money, Mello purchased 31 different real estate properties across the US, in Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, Texas and Washington.
Her mansion in Preston, Maryland, valued at $3.1 million, was on a sprawling 58-acre property and featured eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, and 55 garage spaces.
She is also said to have purchased at least 80 vehicles with the stolen money.
Due to her expensive tastes, the fraudster picked up the name ‘Gucci Goddess’ from couriers as she regularly had designer brand packages deliver to her home.
“She’d have expensive jewelry or say she’d just been here or there and that it was all possible because of her rich husband,” an acquaintance of Mello, who wished to remain anonymous, told the San Antonio Express-News.
“She’d come in her Mercedes or Land Rover and say, ‘It’s a gift from my rich husband.,” the acquaintance added.
Mello's said to have started her scamming in 2016, but suspicion wasn't raised until a year later when The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) saw that she'd included 'Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development' on her personal tax returns for 2017.
Mello now faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for each mail fraud count and five years for each tax fraud count.