PORTLAND — A married New Hampshire man who claimed he was living alone in Cornish has been ordered to pay more than $45,000 in restitution for fraudulent collecting of  Supplemental  Security Income benefits.

James Robinson, 60, of Concord, New Hampshire, was sentenced to three years probation on Monday at U.S. District Court by Senior Judge George Singal. He was also ordered to pay $45,473 in restitution to the Social Security Administration, according to a press release from Assistant United States Attorney Craig Wolff.

As a condition of probation, he is required to sell the property he owns in Cornish, with the proceeds going toward restitution.

Robinson was found guilty of fraudulently obtaining $45,473 in Supplemental Security Income benefits and making false statements to a government agency in March.

Supplemental Security benefits are paid to people with limited income who are blind, disabled or elderly.

Robinson claimed to be living alone in Maine from 2008 to 2013, while he was actually living with his wife, Hope Robinson, in Concord. She had provided him with financial assistance, according to federal court documents.

Hope Robinson died in 2015. Prosecutors said that both prior and after her death, James Robinson concealed the income he had received as a result of their marriage for the purpose of collecting benefits.

Had Robinson been truthful about his living arangements and financial status, he would have been ineligible for SSI benefits, according to the statement from Wolff.

According to court records, Robinson told SSI investigators in 2015 that he had been married to Hope Robinson, but that the two did not live together in Concord and that he lived in Cornish and traveled back and forth between the two communities during the course of their marriage.

He was sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. The investigation was conducted by SSA, Office of the Inspector General, as well as the Maine Department of Health & Human Services’ Fraud Investigation & Recovery Unit.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 780-9015 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com. Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells contributed to this story.