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Feds: Con man filed bogus appeal in stranger's case

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A convicted Pittsburgh conman now awaiting trial on charges he stalked an FBI agent by placing a phony Craigslist sex ad has now also been charged with filing a fake appeal. But 48-year-old Frederick Banks isn't accused of filing the appeal in his case. Rather, it involves a woman he doesn't even know. That woman, 42-year-old Laurel Schlemmer, is awaiting trial in state court on charges that she drowned her young sons in a bathtub nearly two years ago. Federal prosecutors say Banks' bogus habeas corpus petition — titled "Schlemmer v. Central Intelligence Agency" — claims the CIA sent electronic signals to Schlemmer demanding she kill the boys. Attorneys for Banks and Schlemmer haven't commented. But federal prosecutors say Banks is a habitual filer of bogus court documents.

Feds: Pittsburgh man filed bogus appeal in stranger's case