Philadelphia Safety Net (PSN) Executive Director Raymond Jones is in hot water for misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money that was supposed to be used in his gun buyback program.

Is he auditioning for Mayors Against Illegal Guns?

An audit has charged a Philadelphia gun buyback program, which provided grocery gift cards in exchange for weapons, misused more than $450,000 in grant funds from the federal government.

Philadelphia Safety Net (PSN) received $800,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Justice to run its “Goods for Guns” program from July 2010 through March 2012. The program would hold events where Philadelphia Police would collect guns and, in return, Philadelphia Safety Net would provide $100 grocery store gift cards.

The DOJ’s inspector general audited the program and found 62 percent – or $479,183 – of the grant moneys were used for either “unallowable, unsupported and/or unreasonable” expenses.

Jones says that he has provided documentation supporting his use of funds and claims that PSN’s buyback is working has removed 2,871 guns from the street, though the audit also finds that 280 of the $100 gift cards are missing

While Jones will perhaps be able to justify some of the discrepancies in the program, nearly $480,000 seems like an alwful lot to explain away.

I hope he has a good lawyer.