Bremerton, Washington, couple pleads guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft

Tacoma - A Bremerton, Washington woman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft for her role in a scheme to steal nearly $229,000 from banks and bank customers, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Emily Vranic, 34, and her co-defendant Heather Marquis, 37, were arrested on a federal complaint in April 2025. Vranic entered a plea of guilty this morning; Marquis pleaded guilty last month. U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright scheduled sentencing for September 3, 2026.

According to records filed in the case, between approximately April 2019 and November 2024, Vranic and Marquis stole identities in several different ways. Most often, they stole victims' mail and used personal documents inside to activate credit cards, open new lines of credit, or gain wholesale access to online bank accounts. The pair would have documents related to their activities mailed to a third-party victim's address, where they would intercept the mail again. Once they had fully taken over a stolen identity, statements and other records were mailed directly to their own Bremerton address.

Armed with their victims' identities, the pair ran up credit card debt, made transfers from victim accounts to their own, and even used victim accounts to make their monthly mortgage payments. In one instance, the pair attempted to transfer $35,000 from a vulnerable victim's account, after a successful transfer of almost $33,000 from the same account. When the transfer was rejected, they repeatedly called the bank posing as the account holder to try to get the fraud alert removed.

Though the total amounts stolen will be further proven at the time of sentencing, Vranic has agreed to pay restitution to the victims of at least $48,000. Marquis has agreed to pay a forfeiture money judgment of $228,701.

Conspiracy to commit bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory minimum two years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed in the case. Prosecutors have agreed to cap their recommendations for Marquis at four years in prison and for Vranic at 57 months in prison. Judge Cartwright is not bound by those recommendations and can impose any sentence allowed by law.

The case was investigated by the Bremerton Police Department, the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Victoria Cantore.