Posted at 9:30 p.m., Saturday, December 2, 2006
Former Wahiawa museum curator charged with fraud
Associated Press
The former museum curator of the Korean War museum in Oxford, Neb. — who set up similar museum in Hawai'i two years ago — has been charged with defrauding Nebraska war veterans, local governments and private individuals, Attorney General Jon Bruning said.A Lancaster County district judge also granted an emergency request for a temporary restraining order to keep Kyle Kopitke of Nelson from moving the museums and removing assets from them.
Kopitke set up a Korean War museum in Wahiawa in 2004. But he had to start looking for a new location six months later because of a dispute with the owner of the land under the facility.
The Nebraska suit says Kopitke set up charitable war museums in Oxford, Edgar and Nelson to gain thousands of dollars in incentives, benefits and personal possessions from individuals and local governments.
Kopitke used similar schemes in Utah and Hawai'i in the past eight years, Bruning said in a statement released today.
Kopitke served jail time for trespassing at the museum and was released.
He was arrested June 10 after he was seen in the former museum building in Oxford. Kopitke said he was removing personal items. But the building's owners said Kopitke did not have permission to be inside.
The Korean War Museum operated in the former Oxford nursing home building from April 2005 until Kopitke moved the museum to Edgar in November of that year.
Kopitke moved to Nelson, where he operates a Vietnam War Museum.
