San Diego

The attorney for William Landreth, known by his nickname of “The Cracker” because of his expertise in breaking through computer systems, said Monday he “had no idea” where Landreth was when he vanished last year.

Landreth, 22, of Poway, said little during his brief appearance Monday before U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster in San Diego after his extradition from Portland, Ore., last week.

He is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center without bail. The government is seeking to revoke his probation, and he could get a four-year prison term for violating probation.

His lawyer, Peter Hughes, asked for a continuance and Brewster scheduled the next hearing for July 13.

Landreth was arrested June 26 near Portland after a resident saw him acting suspiciously around her house. She had called police and they discovered he was a fugitive after Landreth gave his real name to them.

According to wire reports, Landreth wore no shoes and had been living as a transient there. In court, he wore a white jail jump suit and appeared very thin.

“He’s a nice kid, very low key,” Hughes said, adding that a woman called police after Landreth asked for a drink of water from her garden hose.

“I have no idea,” Hughes said when asked about where Landreth has been since he disappeared.

Hughes said the government is seeking to have a mental competency hearing for Landreth.

He had been placed on three years’ probation for a 1984 wire fraud case in which he admitted illegally accessing an electronic mail network in Vienna, Va.

According to the probation charges, Landreth missed appointments Aug. 25 and Sept. 16, 1986, with the probation department and missed sending in regular reports of his whereabouts.

Landreth is also accused of going to Florida last year for a speaking engagement, which was also a probation violation to leave the area without permission.

Landreth wrote a book about his experiences before he left Poway last year.