(AP) — A Lincoln man convicted of theft has been ordered to pay the Department of Veterans Affairs more than $124,000 in restitution.

Court records say 48-year-old George Strandness Jr. was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge John Gerrard, who gave Strandness five years of probation as well.

Strandness had pleaded guilty to a count of theft after federal prosecutors dismissed 10 other counts.

Investigators say Strandness began receiving Veterans Affairs Dependency and Indemnity Compensation payments after his wife, a veteran, died in 1996. He remarried in 2001 but didn’t tell the Veterans Affairs Department. The marriage would have affected the benefit payments.