A man whose prosecution three years ago was announced as part of an identity theft crackdown dubbed "Operation Identity Crisis" is in trouble again after trying to fool a notoriously no-nonsense federal judge with a forged letter asking for leniency.

U.S. marshals are looking for James M. Lyle, 22, of the West End, who was released from federal prison in May, after he failed to appear Thursday for a probation violation hearing before Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch.

Mr. Lyle, who had more than 3 million credit card numbers on his computer when Pittsburgh police arrested him in 2003, was arrested again last month on new theft charges stemming from an August online purchase of a laptop computer with a stolen credit card.

That new arrest meant he had violated the terms of his probation from his previous federal case, according to a filing by the U.S. Probation Office.

At a hearing before Judge Bloch on Dec. 13, Mr. Lyle admitted the new offense and the judge placed him on home detention until a space opens up for a six-month term at a Downtown halfway house.

At that hearing, Mr. Lyle also presented the judge with a letter purportedly from Timothy Savina, his boss at British Petroleum in Scott where he had been working, indicating that Mr. Lyle was turning his life around and shouldn't go back to jail.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway thought the letter looked suspicious and asked police to check it out.

"Mr. Savina has indicated that the letter is a forgery," Mr. Conway said in court papers, "that he did not prepare or sign the letter, and that he did not authorize the preparation of the letter."

What's more, Mr. Savina said Mr. Lyle, who was a manager-in-training at BP, got through the company's criminal background check by claiming his felony record was really his father's.

When confronted, Mr. Savina said, Mr. Lyle admitted that he had a friend prepare the letter for him.

"Mr. Lyle has now been terminated from his employment at BP," said Mr. Conway.

After the forgery came to light, Judge Bloch scheduled a new hearing for Dec. 21, at which time there was a good chance Mr. Lyle would go to jail. But Mr. Lyle didn't show and the judge, who has a reputation as the toughest on the federal bench in Pittsburgh, issued a warrant for his arrest.

Michael Novara, Mr. Lyle's public defender, was not available yesterday.

Mr. Lyle had been arrested by Pittsburgh police for credit card theft before 2003, but after another arrest that year authorities decided to lump him together with 11 other defendants as part of "Operation Identity Crisis," a joint effort of the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Postal Inspectors, Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Secret Service and various banks.

Pittsburgh police had found Mr. Lyle, 19 at the time, in possession of more than 15 counterfeit credit cards, more than 3.1 million American Express card numbers, 158,765 Discover card numbers and 43,000 Visa card numbers.

A federal grand jury indicted him in 2003, he pleaded guilty the following year and Judge Bloch sentenced him to 27 months.

The judge also ordered him to pay $3,549 in restitution to various retailers that he defrauded and not to commit any more crimes.