Portia Nesbitt, 38, seemingly disappeared in 2020, about the time her boyfriend, who has a history of domestic violence, allegedly began withdrawing money from her bank account every month.
Tuesday in Burke County Superior Court, Chadwick Washington, 43, is scheduled to plead guilty to financial transaction card fraud. If he gets the same deal extended by District Attorney Jared Williams’ office last month on his probation violation case, Washington will walk out of jail a free man.
Meanwhile, Burke County Lt. James Kelly hopes to soon hear back from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab where he sent off possible biological evidence recovered from the trunk of Washington’s vehicle.
Nesbitt’s family hadn’t heard from her for nearly a year before a relative contacted the sheriff’s office to report she may be in danger and held against her will, according to the affidavit for a search warrant in July 2021 for the home where Nesbitt was living with Washington.
Her Facebook page went silent in 2020, but her disability checks continued to be put in her bank account every month. Kelly said he discovered every month Washington went to the same gas station in Sardis to use the ATM there to withdraw all the money deposited.
Washington claimed Nesbitt went back home to Dublin, Kelly said. But multiple trips to the Dublin area combined with flyers and a reward for information about her whereabouts were a bust.
“The only one who knows (where Nesbitt is) is Washington,” Kelly said. The search of Washington’s home led officers to find her wallet with her finance cards, as well as her clothes and purse.
“Family members advised that Washington was abusive to Nesbitt, and they fear something has happened to her,” the search warrant affidavit states.
In February 2003, Washington hit a girlfriend in the face, and then beat her with his fist in March 2003, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to aggravated stalking in that case and received seven years of probation. The probation was revoked in July 2005 for five years after he was arrested again for family violence battery, property damage and theft.
In June 2012, Washington was sentenced to a year and a half of incarceration and 18 and a half years of probation. In that case, he beat and kicked his girlfriend in December 2010 and then while out on bond, he attacked her again in March 2011 when she suffered a broken eye socket, tears in both of ears and eyes swollen shut.
His probation was revoked in 2016 for three years after his arrest for being a convicted felon with a firearm.
According to the Department of Corrections, Washington was released in December 2019.
Kelly said Nesbitt, who is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds, started a relationship with Washington after he was released from prison.
Last month Judge Amanda Heath accepted a negotiated sentence of one year incarceration for Washington’s probation violation. He has already served a year in the Burke County jail. He was arrested on the financial transaction card fraud charges Sept. 3, 2021. He will be back in court Tuesday for sentencing on those charges.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
