WAYNESBORO, Ga. – Portia Nesbitt’s disappearance didn’t matter Tuesday, Oct. 11, when her boyfriend, who has a history of domestic violence, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the continued use of Nesbitt’s debit card after she went missing.
The use of Nesbitt’s debit card wasn’t discovered until last year when Burke County Sheriff’s investigators set to work after Nesbitt’s family reported her missing.
They didn’t find the 38-year-old woman, but Lt. James Kelly discovered that every month – for those months the bank was able to document and video evidence was available – Chadwick Washington, 43, withdrew money from Nesbitt’s account after the deposit of her monthly disability check.
Tuesday in Burke County Superior Court, the 10 criminal charges Washington faced were reduced to two, one count of financial transaction card fraud and one count of possession of cocaine. The maximum penalty for each charge was three years.
Judge Amanda Heath accepted the negotiated plea and sentenced Washington to one year in custody followed by two years on probation. Because she ran the two sentences concurrently to each other and to Washington’s prior felony sentences and gave him credit for the year he has been in jail, Washington will be free.
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Kelly is awaiting the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab where he sent off possible biological evidence recovered from the trunk of Washington’s vehicle.
A search of Washington’s home led officers to find her wallet with her finance cards, as well as her clothes and purse.
Nesbitt’s family members told the sheriff’s office that Washington was abusive to Nesbitt.
In February 2003 and again in March 2003 Washington beat his then girlfriend. He pleaded guilty to aggravated stalking and was sentenced to 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 The probation was revoked in July 2005 for five years after he was arrested again for family violence battery, property damage and theft.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 2010 Washington attacked another girlfriend, the second time while free on bond. In June 2012 he was sentenced to a year and a half of incarceration and 18 and a half years of probation. His probation was revoked in 2016 for three years after his arrest for being a convicted felon with a firearm.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 5’2’’ and weighs 110 pounds, started a relationship with Washington after he was released from prison.
Last month the judge accepted a negotiated sentence of one year incarceration for Washington’s probation violation. The sentence Tuesday is concurrent to that, too.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
