Feds: Pittsburgh 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.

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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.