Cops say beauty queen passed bogus $50s

NORTH WILDWOOD - Counterfeiting is not exactly congeniality, but authorities in Cape May County say a former North Wildwood beauty queen had a talent for printing and using fake $50 bills.

Ashley Fuhrmeister, 21, a business major at Atlantic Cape Community College and Miss North Wildwood 2007, was arrested Friday along with her mother, Kelly A. Nowacky, 44, on charges of forgery and possession of forgery devices.

The investigation found that sometime in January, both women used counterfeit $50 bills at a Wawa on New Jersey Avenue, just a few blocks from the waterfront condominium where Nowacky lived. Fake $50 bills also were used at another store in Wildwood, police said.

Another suspect, John Laughlin of Belleplain, Cape May County, also was charged with forgery as a result of the investigation.

The North Wildwood Police Department and the Secret Service both declined to comment, other than to say that the investigation was ongoing.

No one answered at the door of Nowacky's home yesterday afternoon, although a neighbor said the family had just returned. The owner of the condo declined to comment yesterday.

Officials in North Wildwood said Fuhrmeister was "one of the best" contestants ever to serve as Miss North Wildwood.

"Everybody loved her demeanor," said Scott Wahl, a city spokesman. "She was at every event."

After winning the crown in 2007, the former Wildwood High School honor student planned to dedicate her reign to raising money for Huntingdon's disease, the Cape May Herald reported at the time. Fuhrmeister's father, Wayne, was in the terminal stages of the disease, which affects the nervous system.

The article mentioned that Fuhrmeister was a volunteer at a local school and was employed at Bank of America.

"We were shocked," Peg Quattrone, wife of former North Wildwood events coordinator Joe Quattrone, told the Daily News. "She is a very sweet girl."

Authorities did not explain the relationship between Laughlin and the two North Wildwood women.

Nowacky and Laughlin were taken to the Cape May County Jail on $15,000 bail each. Fuhr-meister was released on her own recognizance.

North Wildwood police said Nowacky spent a night in the jail and then was released. *