National Guardsman allegedly stole soldiers' info for militia IDs

A member of the Minnesota National Guard stole personal information from fellow soldiers to make IDs for members of his militia, federal investigators say. Keith Michael Novak, 25, of Maplewood appeared at a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Minneapolis, the (Minneapolis) Star-Tribune reported. FBI agents searched his apartment. Novak, a veteran of Iraq, allegedly stole information while he was an intelligence analyst with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg in North Carolina between 2009 and 2012. He transferred into the National Guard last year. A search warrant affidavit said Novak met two undercover FBI agents posing as members of a Utah militia at a training camp, inviting them to visit him in Minnesota. When they did so, he allegedly showed them Social Security numbers and other information for a "battalion's worth" of people. Novak allegedly told the FBI agents the militia had weapons stashed around Minnesota. He was also quoted as saying he was prepared if anyone invaded his apartment. "I've my AK in my bed," he allegedly said. "If I hear that door kick, it's going boom, boom, boom." A neighbor, Bevalee Ferguson, told the Star-Tribune she knew Novak had been in the Army and said he was taking college classes. Her husband, Don, also an Army veteran, said Novak once showed him his gun collection, and he believed everything was registered.