NEW ORLEANS -- A Louisiana man charged with threatening to kill President George W. Bush professed his innocence in court Tuesday, then started sobbing after a federal magistrate ordered him jailed.

A social worker told Secret Service agents that 44-year-old Gregory Broussard, of Hammond, was being treated in a hospital emergency room on Dec. 29 when he threatened the president and to blow up the White House.

Broussard didn't enter a plea but told U.S. Magistrate Louis Moore Jr. that he is not guilty of the charge. Moore then ordered him held without bond pending a detention hearing Thursday.

Broussard, who told Moore he has three "mental disabilities" that he didn't specify, started crying and pleading for help after federal marshals led him out of the courtroom.

Last month, Secret Service agents questioned Broussard at a psychiatric hospital in Lutcher, where they say he told them that he had traveled to Baton Rouge to survey the Louisiana capitol and governor's mansion in case President-elect Barack Obama visits.

Broussard told Moore that he was once a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy but has been unemployed since 1984. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.