Contractor says ‘Gucci Goddess’ stiffed it
A Spring Branch contractor claims that Janet Yamanaka Mello, a former civilian Army employee who’s agreed to plead guilty to stealing $108 million in government funds, stiffed the company for work on one of her many luxury properties.
Field Construction Inc. has filed a claim in federal prosecutors’ civil forfeiture case against the property in Horseshoe Bay, an exclusive leisure community in Central Texas.
Court records show Lynn “Boots” Field, vice president of the family-run construction firm, is trying to recoup $87,105. That includes a final payment of $84,000 — on a bill for more than $300,000 for remodeling work on a home owned by Mello — and the contractor’s legal costs.
The work included “performing framing, electrical, plumbing and various other work at the subject property during the months of January 2022 through September 2023,” said an affidavit signed by Lynn Field.
Public records show Janet Mello, 57, and her husband, Mark Mello, bought the property in 2018 from Richard Heller Homes. Prosecutors allege it was purchased with some of the $108 million Janet Mello stole from a grant program for military families participating in 4-H.
Field Construction has been trying to collect the final payment since September, Field’s affidavit said.
By then, the IRS had raided the Mellos’ primary home in far North San Antonio and filed civil forfeiture lawsuits against the Horseshoe Bay property and numerous others, as well as vehicles and bank accounts tied to Janet Mello, who worked in various civil positions of the military for more than 20 years.
Mello most recently worked as a finance program manager for the Morale, Welfare and Recreation section of the Army’s Installation Management Command at Joint Base San Antonio-fort Sam Houston.
She was indicted in December on several charges. She struck a plea deal last week in which she agreed to plead guilty to five wire fraud and five tax charges. Her plea hearing is scheduled for Thursday in San Antonio’s federal court.
She is expected to admit that she created a shell company called Child Health and Youth Lifelong Development, or CHYLD, in 2016 and used it to collect payments from the the 4-H program for nearly seven years. The company never provided any services.
She spent much of the money on mansions, prime real estate, expensive vehicles and other luxuries. She ordered so many designer bags and purses that delivery people nicknamed her the “Gucci Goddess.”
Reached by phone Tuesday, a Field Construction representative declined comment.
The contractor’s claim, which includes the draft of a lawsuit it had planned to file in Llano County, names both Janet and Mark Mello as potential defendants.