Frank J. Thornton, former president of the Henrico Branch NAACP, has had his membership in the civil rights group suspended for two years.

The national NAACP imposed the suspension on Feb. 16 during its quarterly board meeting in New York.

Mr. Thornton, the son of a longtime member of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, claims the action violated basic due process because he was blocked from appearing at the meeting and defending himself.

The board acted on a recommendation from its membership committee, which met Feb. 15 to consider the one-year suspension and removal from office imposed on Mr. Thornton on Dec. 17 by national NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and then recommended the second year.

Mr. Thornton had appealed Mr. Johnson’s action, alleging that it violated the NAACP’s bylaws. He said the committee kept him from appearing by refusing to provide him with information on the time, date and location of the meeting.

“I never received any notice that the meeting was to be held, another form of disenfranchisement,” he said.

Mr. Thornton said he traveled to New York still hoping to appear, but learned after he arrived that the committee had already met and dealt with his case and that he would not be allowed to appear before the full board, which rubber-stamped the committee’s recommendation.

Malik Russell, national NAACP spokesman, did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Thornton provided the Free Press with copies of several emails he had sent to the national staff seeking information on the membership committee meeting. He said he never received a response.

The suspension is based on a complaint signed by at least 20 members of the Henrico Branch and submitted last April to the national office alleging that Mr. Thornton, since taking office in January 2017, had withdrawn about $1,900 in branch funds in eight transactions that were not properly authorized as required by the bylaws.

Mr. Thornton, 49, an adjunct professor at Virginia Union University, has called the allegations false.

The Free Press obtained Mr. Thornton’s response to the complaint that included copies of receipts and justifications for all of the expenditures. They ranged from the rental of space for a branch event to the purchase of ink for a printer used to create programs and other items for the branch.

The evidence also included the January 2018 minutes of the Henrico Branch’s executive committee, which state that a vote was taken to authorize the most controversial payment, $1,000 to reimburse Mr. Thornton for his expenses for representing the branch at the NAACP’s 2017 national convention in Baltimore.

Two key branch officers who were involved in orchestrating the complaint, secretary Tracey Johnston and treasurer Gale Jones, have declined to comment on instructions from the national office.

Mr. Thornton said he is weighing his options, but could drop the matter given the national NAACP’s decision to act without considering his evidence.

“I don’t want to spend a whole lot of energy on this. This whole process has been a kangaroo court that makes no plausible sense at all,” he said.

He said the record would show that he re-invigorated the Henrico Branch since his election in 2016 to the volunteer position. Along with recruiting new members and increasing fundraising, he said the branch became more active in the areas of public education, student discipline and health policy under his tenure.

“I don’t need a title to continue doing what I have been doing for the citizens of this community,” he said. “Those who have interacted with me know what I have done.”

Since Mr. Thornton was suspended in December, Vice President Sharon Glover has been serving as acting president of the Henrico Branch.

While there has been no public announcement, the Free Press has been told the branch is to hold new elections for officers at its Tuesday, March 5, meeting.