A San Francisco city computer engineer remained jailed in lieu of $5 million bail Tuesday for allegedly locking administrators out of the city computer network.

Terry Childs, 43, of Pittsburg, appeared in court on four counts of computer tampering but won't be arraigned until Thursday to give his attorney more time to review the matter, The (San Jose) Mercury News reported.

Childs, who was arrested Sunday, allegedly altered pass words to the city's new network, which stores a wide range of city records, including city payroll information, jail inmate bookings and other law enforcement data.

A five-year city employee, Childs' supervisors allegedly had disciplined him and tried to fire him for poor performance, a knowledgeable official told the newspaper.

They weren't able to do it -- this was kind of his insurance policy, the official said.

While administrators feared extensive costs could arise from Childs' alleged mischief, the system was still operating, though some administrators had limited or no access.

Right now our system is up and running and we haven't had any problems so far, said Ron Vinson, chief administrative officer for the Department of Technology where Childs had worked.

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