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GREENSBORO - Guilford County District Attorney Doug Henderson will not prosecute officials from N.C. A&T in connection with misused funds discovered in a 2007 audit of the university's finances.

Neither former A&T Chancellor James C. Renick nor Anna Anita Huff, a program manager who was fired in September 2006, violated any laws or enriched themselves with the misused funds, Henderson said Tuesday.

Mable Scott, special assistant to the vice chancellor for Development and University Relations, declined to comment on the decision Tuesday but said: "We are very proud of N.C. A&T State University. ... We're ranked third in research within the UNC system with over $40 million in research and (are) a top producer of graduates in engineering, psychology and accounting."

In September 2007, Henderson asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into an auditor's report that found hundreds of thousands of dollars in university funds had been used inappropriately.

The audit by the N.C. Office of the State Auditor was released in August 2007.

The investigation focused on two funds: the Future Engineering Faculty Fellowship Program, funded by a grant from the Office of Naval Research that Huff managed, and a Pepsi vending contract. Money from that contract was intended for student financial aid and campus debt.

Investigators looked at nearly $400,000 from the Pepsi vending contracts that had been transferred into Renick's discretionary fund.

Although audits found that money from the contracts purchased a $150,000 retirement annuity for a faculty member, travel and artwork, Henderson found the expenditures all benefited the university. Henderson wrote in a news release that Renick didn't understand the restriction on the vending funds. "We find that former Chancellor James C. Renick did not act in bad faith or with criminal intent," according to the news release.

Renick, who left A&T in 2006 to take a position at the American Council on Education in Washington, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Auditors also found that grant money from the Office of Naval Research used in the fellowship program had been spent on a stipend for Huff's husband, a student in the program, and wages and travel expenses for her daughter, a student employee of the program. The Office of Naval Research approved all the spending and found it to be within the grant's guidelines, according to the release.

Huff had no influence over the selection committee that chose her husband to participate in the program, and the committee could not have known they were married, according to the release.

Program equipment the audit found missing has been located, and hiring her daughter "was not on its face illegal," Henderson said, adding, "the university received benefit from her services."

Huff could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com