Army Colonel Who Faced Rape Accusations Will Retire from the Service in May

March 21, 2023

Editor's Note: The following story is being reprinted with the permission of Stars and Stripes, which retains all rights. The story originally ran on March 20, 2023.  To read the original story, please visit: https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2023-03-20/army-colonel-rape-nanny-discharge-9555090.html

By Rose L. Thayer, Stars and Stripes staff writer

An Army psychiatrist removed from command more than two years ago following allegations that he raped his family’s live-in nanny will retire from the service in May, Army officials said Monday.

“In accordance with applicable law and policy, Col. Christopher Warner will retire from the Army at the rank he last served satisfactorily,” said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Hewitt, an Army spokesman. “Due to privacy act restrictions, we are unable to provide any further information.”

The retirement is effective May 31, he said. However, it was unclear Monday at what rank Warner will leave the military.

Warner, 48, was removed as commander of Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in October 2020 after he faced accusations that he had raped his family’s live-in nanny in 2007, according to Army officials and Warner’s former nanny Amber, who claimed the colonel had sexually assaulted her numerous times.

Stars and Stripes typically does not name the victims of sexual assault, but Amber chose to be identified by her first name.

Warner and an attorney who represented him did not respond Monday to requests for comment. Amber lived with Warner’s family near Fort Stewart, Ga., when he was assigned to Winn Army Community Hospital and preparing for a deployment to Iraq. In the few months between Amber moving in and Warner’s deployment, she said he raped her in the Warner’s home. Amber was 19 years old at the time.

She later contacted the Army Criminal Investigation Division to file her allegations against Warner after learning he took command of the JBLM hospital in July 2020.

Since then, the case has moved privately through the Army’s nonjudicial punishment system for officers instead of through the courts where public records are available on proceedings.

Instead of a court-martial, Warner received a general officer memorandum of reprimand and faced a three-member panel of general officers in September 2021. The panel did not find enough evidence that Warner committed sexual assault but did agree that he committed adultery, which is barred under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to service officials in emails about the case that were provided by Amber.

The panel recommended Warner be discharged from the Army, according to the emails. Army officials have not commented on the panel’s decision, though they have said it was sent to the Army Review Boards Agency to determine the rank at which Warner should be discharged and then forwarded to the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs for approval.

Warner, originally from Toronto, Ohio, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1996 and then from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in 2000, according to the Army. Since December 2021, he has served as a special projects officer and performs administrative duties assigned by the deputy surgeon general of the Army in Falls Church, Va.

He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Family Medicine. Warner is licensed to practice medicine in Indiana and Virginia, according to online licensure records.