Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe is facing questions about his past as well as his future.

Monroe, one of three finalists to become police chief in Charlotte, N.C., has been linked indirectly to a federal investigation of alleged misuse of grant money overseen by his department when he was chief of police in Macon, Ga.

Monroe, who came to Richmond in 2005, said yesterday that his office carried out the program created by the city administration.

"It was and is my belief based upon communications, documents submitted, and approvals received, that we were in compliance," Monroe said in a written response to questions by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

However, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia warned Macon's new mayor, Robert Reichert, last month that the city could face a civil suit seeking more than $1 million for improper use of federal grants given to Macon churches in 2002 to help at-risk youth.

In an April 2 letter to Reichert, Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald L. Johstono said unnamed officials had falsely certified that the city had spent the money properly. Johstono did not threaten criminal prosecution.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Maxwell Wood said the prosecutor would be out of the office until Friday and unavailable for further comment.

Reichert agreed to set up a meeting with the city's attorney and prosecutor's office, but mayoral spokesman Andrew Blascovich said the federal investigation became public before the meeting could be scheduled. "We want to get more information," Blascovich said yesterday.

Monroe said the money was part of a federal budget earmark that the administration of then-Mayor C. Jack Ellis converted to a faith-based initiative to help at-risk youth.

The Ellis administration selected the recipients of the grant funds and the coordinators of the grant program before transferring its administration to the police department, according to the statement from Monroe's office in Richmond. "The City Administration made those decisions."

Ellis told the Macon Telegraph this week that he is confident the money was spent properly. "I am confident that every penny that we spent, every penny . . . people did what they were supposed to do," he said in a story published Monday.

In his statement, Monroe said the Macon Police Department carried out the grant program under guidelines established by the city's economic development and finance offices.

However, Monroe said he "did not have a level of comfort" with the coordinators that Macon had hired for the project. He subsequently hired a grants administrator, whom he did not name, because of the volume of grants handled by the department.

The administrator complied with the terms of the Safe Schools Initiative grant and reported to the Office of Justice Programs, Monroe said, adding that the federal agency's comptroller had found what he called minor technical flaws in the police department's administration of the grant. He said the Justice Department had expressed overall concern with Macon's finance department.

"In summary, key aspects of the grant were not within the control of the Macon Police Department, including the selection and hiring of the executive directors and the awarding of the grant recipients," Monroe's statement says. "The Macon Police Department at all times administered the grant as it believed it to have been approved by the Office of Justice Programs."

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.