Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57
Posted on 01/29/2024 5:19:01 AM PST by tlozo
A con artist who is accused of defrauding the US Army out of $100 million has been given the green light to retire with full benefits.
Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, who is currently under criminal investigation, brazenly claims she “earned” her civil servant retirement package despite allegedly using the funds to purchase over 30 homes, luxury cars, and jewelry through the seven-year-long scheme.
The military admitted that there is nothing that can be done to withhold Mello’s benefits from her as it’s protected under a federal law that was held up in government bureaucracy.
“The command has no authority to impact Ms. Mello’s retirement,” an Army spokesperson told the San Antonio Express-News.
“In accordance with 5 U.S. Code Section 8312, an individual may be denied an annuity or retired pay on the basis of the service of the individual, if the individual is convicted of treason, rebellion or insurrection, or other similar offenses. There is no similar statutory authority for denying retired pay based on a conviction of other offenses.”
Albert Flores, Mello’s attorney, told the outlet that his client “earned” her retirement benefits.
“She earned it. I don’t see how one thing is related to the other,” he said of the ongoing criminal investigation.
Flores said that Mello’s case will be resolved quickly, as she’s been “very cooperative” in turning over assets.
Mello, who worked as a civilian financial program manager at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, hatched a plan in 2016 to create a business titled “Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development” so she would siphon funds she received from the Army to herself.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57
Ok, but she should be forced to pay the money back, withhold her retirement until all monies have been repaid.
Those eyebrows say it all. No, she did not earn it. Dolts. What a nation!
Send her to Leavenworth.
crime doesn’t always pay much but if you want to take a shot at the BIG bucks...get a government job.
Where was the Inspector General all those years?
Where were her supervisors?
Where were their supervisors?
Where was the OMB?
Where was the CBO?
This didn’t happen in a vacuum..................................
“If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.”
― George Orwell, 1984
She purchased over 30 homes.
She really needed 30 homes.
This isn’t someone who stole a loaf of bread.
She is a cold, calculating thief who feels she is above all of us.
She should be above all of us.
Hanging by a rope.
The USA does not DESERVE to continue as a nation if this is lawful. This is a greenlight to all civilian employees of the federal government to happily steal taxpayers blind and live happily ever after. This was $100 million in theft over a LOOOONG time. This was not the quick looting of the local convenience store.
Change the law to include......... no govt pension to anyone who scams the govt.
Call Congress l (202) 224-3121
If you read the article it explains the serious nature of Civil Service employment. This is the SWAMP. These are the ones running the store and yet we hear people daily claim we need term limits for our elected representatives.
Think about this thief and the sweet deal she got after ripping the American taxpayer off for well over $100,000,000.00 next time someone posts a bumper sticker slogan for term limits. Think this thief is the exception and not the rule?
The entire State, Federal and Local Governments need serious employee haircuts and overhauling the Civil Service structure making everyone an at will employee and while we’re at it, decertify every single government employee union.
After we do all of that it will be time to consider term limits on elected representatives but not until then. Full Stop.
So in Gringo America you can earn a government pension by swindling the U.S. Army out of 100 million bucks? Whadda country!
Guilty as hell, free as a bird!
Is this country great or what?
Bill Ayers said it best. Clintons partner in crime in Chicago
“brazenly claims she “earned” her civil servant retirement package”
In 31 years with the DoD I saw my share of entitlement mentality but never anything to this magnitude.......sheesh SMH
Indeed it sounds like she wasn’t the only one in on the scam.
And to think...this is just one that’s been caught!
I find it highly unlikely that a single person could pull this off.
There has to be some accomplices in the chain of command...............
Why isn’t she in the slammer?
Don’t think she can be sent there. She is a civilian. Leavenworth is for male military prisoners. She would have to be convicted in a Federal Court then sentenced to one of the Federal women’s prisons. Think Marth Stewart.
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