Kyle Kopitke said yesterday that he is looking for free legal help to fight a lawsuit filed Friday by the office of Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning.

In addition, a Nebraska county judge has temporarily barred Kopitke from moving his three museums or taking any artifacts or other assets from them.

A hearing is set for Thursday to decide whether to extend the judge's order.

The state lawsuit alleges that Kopitke set up charitable war museums in Oxford, Edgar and Nelson, Neb., to gain thousands of dollars in incentives, benefits and personal possessions from individuals and local governments.

Kopitke, his wife and their 10-year-old son live in the former Nelson High School, in a gymnasium locker room that has been remodeled into a caretaker's apartment. He denied removing or selling any of the items donated to his museums.

Kopitke said he's a victim of negative news reports and two unidentified groups that he said want to take over his museums, calling their actions "hostile corporate takeovers."

Kopitke opened the National Korean War Museum in February 2004 in Wahiawa. But within seven months of opening, the museum closed after struggling financially and undergoing a court-ordered foreclosure auction.

The museum in Wahiawa had featured Korean War-related murals and statues as well as 38 incomplete galleries containing photos, posters, medals, foot lockers and combat gear.

The purpose, Kopitke had said, was to perpetuate an ever-expanding tribute to the thousands of veterans who served and gave their lives in one of the fiercest, though routinely overlooked, wars in American history. More than 33,000 Americans were killed in the three-year conflict between North and South Korea.