Wide World of Porn- A porn princess who sizzled on the screen as “Farrah” flopped when she allegedly tried to swindle money out of a bank using the name Olga Mendoza – and was cooling her high heels last night in a New Jersey jail.
Joy Marquart, who starred in more than 100 skin flicks in the 1990s, was busted Monday after presenting a teller with a driver’s license that was even more phony than her porn moniker, police said.
By then Marquart had managed to successfully scam $40,000 out of six other North Jersey banks, police said.
“She was very well-dressed” when she pulled off her scams, said Detective William Wicker of the Oradell, N.J., police. “She didn’t need a lot of makeup.”
Cops believe the 30-year-old ex-stripper worked for a New York-based crime ring that specialized in looting legitimate bank accounts.
“She was walking down the street, shopping in Manhattan when these two men approached her and asked if she wanted to make some fast money, as she put it,” Detective Sgt. George Bruno of the Emerson, N.J., police said.
Marquart, whose porn career had fizzled, agreed, Bruno said.
Dressed in a black pinstripe business suit and high heels, Marquart clickety-clacked into suburban banks carrying the identification and account numbers and forged IDs of real customers, police said.
Marquart would either ask to cash a phony check or make a withdrawal and then start talking on her cell phone during the transaction to prevent the tellers from asking too many questions.
New York Post: A one-time porn queen, using brazen beauty and come-hither eyes, ripped off six New Jersey banks to the tune of $40,000 in an identity-theft scam by dolling herself up in a black pinstriped power suit and heels and posing as an actual bank customer, police said.
The jiggly sexpot, known to the adult world simply as Farrah, but to police as Joy Marquart, 30, was busted at a Washington Mutual branch in Emerson on Monday after a teller realized her drivers’ license was a fake, authorities said.
The bodacious blonde had successfully fooled tellers at other banks, in Emerson, Fair Lawn, Hackensack, Oradell, Ridgewood and Westwood in recent months, said Emerson Police Detective Sgt. George Buono. Each haul netted $6,000 to $7,500, he said.
But investigators believe the top-heavy tart was merely a gorgeous face fronting for a Big Apple-based identity-theft ring that recruited attractive, white, suburban-looking women to rip off bank accounts.
“She isn’t the mastermind by any stretch of the imagination,” Buono said.
Taking actual customers’ names and account numbers, the thieves fashioned fake IDs with Marquart’s mug on them, along with phony checks and debit cards, so that she could make withdrawals, Buono said.
Marquart was being held at the Bergen County Jail yesterday on theft charges in lieu of $105,000 bail.
Police are searching for Marquart’s accomplices and were trying to figure out how they got hold of people’s information.
Marquart began her rise in the porn world about a decade ago, when she moved from her hometown of Fort Wayne, Ind., to Florida, where she became a stripper. About a year later, she arrived in America’s porn Mecca – California’s San Fernando Valley – and began appearing in adult films like “To Uranus and Back” and “Vincent Van Blow.” Her passionate and vocal performances quickly garnered a rabid following.
She ultimately made about 50 films before dropping out of the scene in 2003. A few months ago, she moved to The Bronx to see friends and look for work, said her mother, Martha Rose Shaw.
Shaw said her daughter’s sultry good looks had gotten her in trouble in the past.
“She always kind of depended on her looks to get her where she wanted be,” Shaw told The Record newspaper. “There were plenty of people who preyed on that.”
New Jersey.com: Striking looks and acting experience helped a former adult movie star walk off with more than $40,000 from six North Jersey banks, police said Wednesday.
By impersonating real customers, Joy Marquart – once known simply as “Farrah” – withdrew from $6,000 to $7,500 at a time from banks in Emerson, Fair Lawn, Hackensack, Oradell, Ridgewood and Westwood over the past several months, authorities said.
Marquart, 30, was arrested Monday after a teller at a Washington Mutual branch in Emerson recognized her driver’s license as a fake.
Yet police say the brazen Marquart was merely a frontwoman for a New York City-based crime ring that specializes in pilfering bank accounts.
Using real bank customers’ names and account numbers, the crew created fake identifications with Marquart’s picture, to go with bogus bank checks and debit cards, said Oradell Detective William Wicker.
Marquart then strolled into the branches wearing a black pinstriped business suit and high heels – creating an image that helped fool bank employees, Wicker said. She asked to cash a check or make a withdrawal, then talked on a cellphone during the transaction to discourage tellers from questioning her, he said.
“She was very well-dressed,” the detective said. “She didn’t need a lot of makeup.”
Marquart was being held on $105,000 bail Wednesday at the Bergen County Jail, charged with theft and attempted theft. Police, meanwhile, were searching for her accomplices while trying to determine how they got identification information for the victimized bank customers.
The arrest marked a bizarre turn for a porn actress who required only single-name billing in direct-to-video titles such as “Farrah’s Deceptive Desires,” and “Farrah’s All-Girl Adventure 2.”
Adult movie producer Kevin Beechum called Marquart a blue-chip performer who had an avid following in the late 1990s.
“She was a known girl at the time,” said Beechum, who owns and operates K-Beech Video, a Chatsworth, Calif.-based company that produced many of the 50 or so films that he said she appeared in.
Marquart also worked for Vivid Entertainment in 1998, said Shylar Cobi, a production manager with the adult movie giant.
Vivid later acquired and released some of Marquart’s films under its own label, with Marquart appearing in the cover photos.
“She was hot. Great tan,” Cobi said. “And she was friendly – not mean, like some of the other girls I work with.”
Her mother, Martha Rose Shaw, described Marquart as a Midwest girl whose good looks have been a double-edged sword.
Reached at her home in Fort Wayne, Ind., Rose said her daughter wanted to be a clothing designer with her own boutique. Marquart left Fort Wayne 10 years ago and got into stripping in Florida, she said.
Eventually, she landed in the San Fernando Valley, the cradle of the adult-film business.
Marquart moved to the Bronx a few months ago to see friends and look for work, her mother said.
“She’s always kind of depended on her looks to get her where she wanted to be,” Shaw said. “There were plenty of people who preyed on that.”