"This all points to the fact that you're currently not taking your medication," Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge James R. Melinson told Lit, 55.
Melinson ordered Lit, a sometime actor and former electrician, held in federal custody pending a hearing March 11 before Chief U.S. District Judge James T. Giles.
Giles sentenced Lit in August after he pleaded guilty to planting a fake bomb in a Northeast Philadelphia mailbox in May 2002.
By the time of his sentencing hearing, Lit had already served most of the 16-month prison term recommended by federal sentencing guidelines because he had been held without bail since his arrest.
Giles also sentenced Lit to three years of supervised release that required him to take medication for delusional disorder and bipolar illness and see a psychiatrist regularly.
All went well, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Beam Winter, until early last month, when Lit did not keep appointments with his federal probation officer and mental-health counselor.
On Feb. 18, Winter alleged, Lit deposited trash on the lawn of Stern Hebrew High School in the Northeast.
When federal agents and police went to Lit's home in the 1700 block of Bergen Street, Winter added, they found a note taped the front door that welcomed them and also warned about "the bottom line" - more than 750 pounds of explosives and gasoline inside triggered to explode.
When authorities entered the house the next day, Lit was not inside, and neither were any explosives or gasoline.
Authorities then followed Lit's trail of cryptic messages, a fake bomb, and one motel-room fire through Philadelphia, North Jersey, and Mifflintown, Pa., 125 miles west of Philadelphia, before arresting him Feb. 23 near a former girlfriend's house in Feasterville, Bucks County.
Lit could be sentenced to up to two years in prison for violating his supervised release.
Federal defender Elizabeth Hey argued that criminal charges were inappropriate and that Lit's recent actions were "the result of his underlying mental illness."
Lit, who, at a hearing after his arrest in May, barked like a dog and upended a courtroom table, was subdued yesterday and more concerned with his wardrobe: a prison jumpsuit.
"Your Honor," he told Melinson, "appearing here in less than a jacket and tie is a disgrace to the flag and the United States of America."
Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2658 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.
