Farmer was born male and underwent a sex-change operation. According to court documents, she legally changed her birth certificate to reflect that she was a woman named Dee Deirdre Farmer.

Farmer was sentenced in 1986 to 20 years in federal prison for credit-card fraud and 30 years in state prison for theft. While awaiting sentencing, she was caught participating in a telephone jewelry theft scheme from jail, Murphy said.

The lawsuit claimed prison officials had violated Farmer's constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment by ignoring the risks faced by an inmate wearing women's clothing and makeup in an all-male prison.

The Supreme Court ruled that prison officials can sometimes be held liable for inmate assaults. But after the decision, Farmer lost her lawsuit at trial.

Murphy said he thought Farmer's "life expectancy was very, very short" when he released her in February 2005, but she has gotten in trouble at least five times since then. The charges include five counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in federal court, as well as identity theft, identity fraud and theft in Baltimore County.

She was charged Wednesday in Baltimore with presenting false information for entry on a death certificate to commit identity fraud and other offenses. According to charging documents, Farmer used a similar scheme to get unrelated charges against her dismissed in Virginia.

Farmer also goes by the names of Douglas C. Farmer and Larry G. Prescott. The person whose death certificate she allegedly tried to change was male, and Farmer identified herself as Larry Prescott when she was arrested in December at a department store and accused of applying for and using store credit cards in other people's names. She has appeared in court on those charges dressed as a man, Baltimore County prosecutor Michelle Samoryk said.

Defense attorney Nicholas Szokoly, who helped secure Farmer's release from prison, said he was saddened to learn of the new charges against his former client.

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