An entrepreneur and civil rights activist with close ties to the Rev. Al Sharpton, to Rep. Maxine Waters and to just about every political and religious figure in the Southland, has lost a sexual harassment and “intentional tort” battery lawsuit and is scheduled to begin a new trial continuation hearing Monday to determine the total amount of damages he must pay.

Tony Wafford, the West Coast coordinator of Sharpton’s National Action Network, who also heads Wafford Consulting and the Palms Residential Care Center, was sued last fall by one of his employees, Sharon Song Byrd, for sexual harassment and battery. At the conclusion of a nine-day trial in Superior Court, the jury found in Byrd’s favor.

Byrd held the program administrator position at the Palms Residential Care Center, from whose La Brea Avenue location Wafford ran Los Angeles County-funded AIDS/HIV programs.    

After listening to a seemingly endless litany of egregious acts by Wafford to get Byrd to have sex with him — including testimony that he took his penis out of his pants in his office and told her to “come and sit on it” — the jury awarded her all the money she sought. 

Byrd told the jury that in an angry rage at her continuous rebuff of his nasty advances, Wafford struck her on the hand and the huge diamond ring he wears caused inoperable nerve damage to her appendage. Her physicians provided court declarations as to the severity of the injuries to her hand. Then the jury found that, yes, Byrd had been severely and continuously sexually harassed by Wafford; yes, he had committed a battery when he hit her and yes, he will pay all her medical bills and for the services of a psychologist to restore her emotional health.

Wafford, who is said to have fired the attorney who lost his case, is expected to defend himself Monday at 10 a.m. in Dept. 39 in the downtown courthouse in another trial set to assess the non-economic damages he will pay Byrd — such as for pain and suffering, emotional distress and the like.

I asked Jeffrey Cowan, Byrd’s Santa Monica-based attorney, why Wafford, who was accused of battery, is not in jail. Cowan explained that while paramedics were summoned to the scene following Wafford’s attack on Byrd, and a lengthy LAPD police report was taken of the incident, she was informed that a report needed to be made to the Sheriff’s Department.

Cowan said that report was made, but it ended up missing. “We held a mini-trial about that missing report,” Cowan said. “Criminal proceedings were never implemented against Wafford because the Sheriff’s Department never issued a formal report.”

Oh, and by the way, Wafford is married to a captain in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Attempts to reach Wafford for comment were unsuccessful, as the telephone number on his Wafford Consulting letterhead is no longer in service. 

I did manage to reach several people who know Wafford, chief among whom is activist Najee Ali, who was once also closely aligned with Sharpton. Ali said he broke ranks with Sharpton because of Wafford, and as to this case, Ali said, among other things, “I am not surprised by the verdict.”