Connect as root and switch to <locked_user_account> and execute the below steps:
me@mordor:~> sudo /sbin/pam_tally --user frodo
User frodo (500) has 32
After unlocking the userID password, I was able to login with the new credentials and avoid the error message.
me@mordor:~> sudo /sbin/pam_tally --user frodo --reset
User frodo (500) had 32
me@mordor:~> sudo /sbin/pam_tally --user frodo
User frodo (500) has 0