A Greeley man is being ordered to pay $1.3 million in restitution for tampering with natural gas wells to inflate his profits.

Weld County District Judge Marcelo Kopcow also sentenced 53-year-old Rex William Monahan on Thursday to three years of supervised probation and 180 days of work release. The restitution will be paid to DCP Midstream, formerly known as Duke Energy.

Monahan previously pleaded guilty to theft. He was accused of tampering with production meters on gas wells so they would show higher gas production than actually occurred, resulting in increased payments from DCP.

The tampering occurred between July 2004 and May 2006.

Monahan told the court there was "no justifying, rationalizing or minimizing" what he had done.