For the past two years, LaSalle J. McCoy Jr. has been seeking payback for what he calls damage to his reputation, but the former president of the Chesterfield County Branch NAACP has come up empty-handed.

The case dates back to 2019 when Mr. McCoy faced a charge of misdemeanor embezzlement of funds from the Chesterfield NAACP during his tenure as the branch’s top elected official. The charge was dismissed within months after no evidence was found to sup- port it, according to a special prosecutor called in to handle the matter.

Mr. McCoy, later removed in 2019 by the national NAACP as the Chesterfield organization’s president, sued the branch’s treasurer, Nicole Thompson- Martin, for libel.

He alleged that she made sworn statements that resulted in county authorities issuing a warrant and arresting him.

In one statement, Ms. Thompson-Martin alleged that Mr. McCoy used money from the branch for “illegal and unauthorized transactions,” although the county investigation found no supporting evidence.

Initially, Mr. McCoy won an $18,000 verdict in Chesterfield General District Court in his libel case against Ms. Thompson-Martin. But she appealed the case to Chesterfield Circuit Court.

Last week, a seven-member jury in the civil trial rejected Mr. McCoy’s expanded claim for $150,000 in damages for what his suit described as “per se libel.”

Instead, the jury found Ms. Thompson-Martin blameless at the end of the daylong trial on March 9, so she will have to pay nothing.

Mr. McCoy said Monday that he was “disappointed, but I’m moving on.”

While he is no longer a member of the Chesterfield Branch NAACP, the retired DuPont technical assistant for Kevlar remains active. He is the editor of the twice-yearly magazine of the Prince Hall Masons Virginia Grand Lodge and is secretary of the Civic and Progressive Action Association of the Matoaca Magisterial District. He also is a trustee of Second Baptist Church at Chester.