‘ID theft and bank fraud was their job’: 2 Bremerton women sentenced for stealing identities of 250+ victims

Two Bremerton women were sentenced for a long-running bank fraud scheme in which they stole personal information from more than 250 people.

Emily Vranic, 34, was sentenced to three years in prison, and her co-defendant, Heather Marquis, 37, was sentenced to 31 months in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.

Both women were also sentenced to three years of supervised release following their release from custody. Both were arrested on a federal complaint in April 2025.

Scheme involved stolen mail, fraudulent credit cards, and bank account takeovers

From around 2021 until their arrests in November 2024, Vranic and Marquis defrauded victims and financial institutions in various ways. The two primarily used stolen mail from victims to activate credit cards, open new lines of credit, or gain wholesale access to online bank accounts using personal information, according to records filed in the case.

Both women would have documents related to their activities mailed to a third-party victim’s address, where they would then intercept the mail again. Once a stolen identity was fully in their control, statements and other records would be mailed directly to their own Bremerton address.

Using the victims’ identities, the couple ran up credit card debt, made transfers from victim accounts into their own, and used victim accounts to make monthly mortgage payments on the home they shared.

The DOJ noted one vulnerable victim was hit with $110,000 in fraudulent transfers, but without a bank intervening, the amount would have exceeded $170,000. Despite banks’ repeated actions to protect customers by freezing the accounts, Vranic and Marquis continued to pose as account holders to get the fraud alerts removed.

“These defendants attempted to steal at least $330,000 from their victims over a three-year period – ID theft and bank fraud was their ‘job,’ and for at least 15 victims they were all too successful,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “Beyond the financial harm, these defendants stole important records: tax returns; Social Security cards; retirement account information; divorce filings; immunization paperwork; immigration records; and military records. And each document theft was an invasion of privacy, causing harm to the victim.”

Prosecutor says drug addiction did not excuse the ‘extraordinary amount of organization’ behind the scheme

In asking for a three-year sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Victoria Cantore stated that even though both women suffered from drug addiction, it doesn’t excuse their actions.

“This scheme nonetheless required an extraordinary amount of organization, planning, and executive functioning skills,” Cantore said. “Marquis and Vranic kept records of every individual, every account, every piece of personal information that would ensure their scheme’s success. The variety of methods the women employed to steal from their victims was nothing short of labyrinthine to unravel.”

Marqis agreed to pay a restitution obligation of $102,784 to the victims, while Vranic has yet to have a restitution hearing, scheduled for October 2026.

‘These two defendants made it their life’s work to lie, cheat, and defraud their very own community. Using every tool at their disposal to illicitly open accounts, redirect funds, and even pay their own mortgage while victims footed the bill,” said Inspector in Charge Anthony Galetti. “Financial crimes of this nature inflict severe, long-term damage, forcing victims down a protracted road to recovery. Beyond the immediate financial loss, victims face the exhausting burden of closing fraudulent accounts and correcting damaged credit scores. While financial institutions may eventually reimburse stolen funds, they cannot restore the extensive time and energy required to repair the broader collateral damage.’

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