DETROIT (AP) A federal court appearance for a man charged with fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents was halted yesterday when he declined to disclose his country of origin.

Youssef Hmimssa was arrested last month in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after fake documents with his photo and an alias were found in a Detroit house the FBI raided while looking for a man wanted for questioning in the terrorism investigation.

A grand jury in Detroit indicted Hmimssa on charges of fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents and fraud related to identification documents.

He also has been indicted in Chicago, where the Secret Service said he went by the name Patrick Vuillaume and was involved in a complex credit card fraud scheme.

At the Detroit hearing yesterday, he confirmed his name is Youssef Hmimssa. He also told U.S. Magistrate Virginia Morgan that he is 30 years old.

When asked his country of origin, Hmimssa"s attorney told the judge that he needed to meet with his client, who he said had been in Michigan for less than 24 hours.

Morgan said arraignment for Hmimssa would be rescheduled for next week.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino would not say where Hmimssa was being held.

According to federal documents filed in Chicago, Hmimssa used up to 400 illegally obtained credit card numbers to make purchases at places such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Red Lobster, causing more than $40,000 in losses.

Hmimssa, who authorities say was known by at least four aliases, also used a false Romanian passport and other documents to obtain an Illinois photo identification card, federal documents allege. He also illegally possessed a Czech handgun, the documents said.

Authorities say two other suspects who also had federal court hearings scheduled in Detroit yesterday have possible ties to Hmimssa.

Karim Koubriti, 23, and Ahmed Hannan, 33, were detained Sept. 17 by FBI agents who were searching the Detroit house where visas and other documents they believe belonged to Hmimssa were found. One of Hmimssa"s aliases, Michael Saisa, appeared on some of the papers agents seized.

Koubriti and Hannan said they knew him only as "Jilali." They have been charged with fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents and fraud in connection with identity documents and information.

During the raid, the federal agents said they also found a planner with handwriting in Arabic. The planner included information about an American base in Turkey, the "American foreign minister," and Alia Airport in Jordan, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Detroit.

Agents had gone to the house looking for Nabil Al-Marabh, who was on the FBI"s "watch list" of people they wanted to contact about the terror attacks.

Al-Marabh later was arrested outside Chicago on an Immigration and Naturalization Service request and a Massachusetts warrant issued in March, charging him with a probation violation involving a stabbing. He was transferred to New York for questioning.