Winchester Woman Agrees to Plead Guilty to Stealing More than a Million Dollars

BOSTON – A Winchester woman was charged today with bank fraud after allegedly using forged checks and account numbers to steal nearly a million dollars.

Sager Kopchak, a/k/a Sager Dallai, 34, was charged and has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of bank fraud.

According to court documents, in late 2009, Kopchak contacted an individual she knew, asking to stay with the individual for a few weeks while receiving cancer treatment. Kopchak stayed with the individual from late 2009 until the summer of 2010, and paid no rent or utilities. In reality, Kopchak did not have cancer and was not undergoing cancer treatment. While living with the individual, Kopchak stole a checkbook and, over the next eight years, stole nearly $1 million by forging checks and using the routing numbers from the stolen checks to make charges against the individual’s account. Kopchak allegedly used the stolen money to make high end purchases such as a pair of 2.05 karat diamond earrings ($9,700), five fur coats (totaling $21,297), Chanel purses (totaling $9,649), a Cartier watch ($3,250) and a trip to the Bahamas ($11,166), among other things.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 per count, or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case was investigated with the assistance of the Boston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Weinreb’s Economic Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.