Wichita ? The founder of the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center must pay $132,374 in restitution for stealing artifacts from NASA and the Hutchinson museum, a judge determined Thursday.

But Max Ary, who was sentenced in May to three years in prison, will be allowed to remain free pending appeal, U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled.

“I have a lot of decisions to make – plans and logistics,” Ary told reporters outside the courthouse.

Ary, 56, said he was pleased he was able to remain free pending appeal and that the judge reduced the amount of restitution sought by the government.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

Prosecutors had sought $233,762 in restitution from Ary, but questions arose about who owned some of the space artifacts, and the Cosmosphere had received at least some money for some NASA items Ary had sold. The defense had asked that Ary pay just $57,760 in restitution, reflecting the value of items he was convicted of stealing.

A jury convicted Ary in November on 12 counts, including theft of government property, wire and mail fraud, interstate transport of stolen goods and money laundering.

In making his ruling, Marten said he found credible Ary’s claim that some of his own items were displayed at the Cosmosphere and that they were commingled with museum artifacts. Marten noted that Ary had a significant collection before coming to the Cosmosphere.

“We want to err on the side of fairness where that happens,” Marten said.

Citing uncertainty about the ownership of some items, such as filmstrips, Marten reduced the restitution amount sought by prosecutors by $79,388. He reduced it an additional $22,000 because the Cosmosphere received money for some NASA items Ary sold.

Ary was president and chief executive officer of the Cosmosphere from 1976 until he left in 2002 to become executive director of the Oklahoma City Omniplex.

He was convicted of stealing data recording tape from the Apollo 15 mission, an Air Force One control panel, spacesuit components, a lunar sample bag and personal items carried into space by astronauts.

The prison sentence Marten imposed in May was shorter than even the low end of federal sentencing guidelines, but Marten had noted that given Ary’s age, his ability to make restitution would be diminished the longer he is incarcerated.

Ary acknowledged at trial that he sold artifacts that belonged to NASA and the Cosmosphere, but he maintained they had been accidentally mingled with items in his own collection, which he said was made up of items he obtained as gifts or through trades.

Ary left the Cosmosphere in May 2002, when he moved to Oklahoma City to become executive director of the Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum at Omniplex. He was placed on leave from that job after being indicted in April and was replaced after his contract expired in August.