Army Warrant Officer Sentenced For Raping Woman At NAS Pensacola

May 9, 2026

An Army rotary wing aviator was convicted by a military jury of raping two women, including one at NAS Pensacola  and sentenced to 31 years in prison,

Warrant Officer Dawson Van Manen, 27, assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 145th Aviation Regiment, 1st Aviation Brigade, was also sentenced by the military judge to a dishonorable discharge from Army and total forfeiture of pay and allowances.

In addition to the rape charges, Van Manen was convicted of the possession of anabolic steroids, which is a Schedule III controlled substance, and disobeying a lawful order.

Van Manen was apprehended by agents with the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division and Naval Criminal Investigative Service on August 29, 2024, after the first victim reported a rape that occurred in earlier that month at the Navy Lodge & Suites, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., after a night of drinking and socializing at a bar off base.

The victim started communicating with Van Manen on the dating app Bumble and the couple met in person for the first time that night at the bar in Pensacola.

Agents with Army CID discovered that he had used the false name “2nd Lt. David Johnson” on his dating app profile to conceal his true identity. He also registered at the Navy Lodge & Suites using the first name “David.”

After the assault, she went to the local hospital where medical staff gathered evidence using a rape kit. During the trial, the nurse testified that the victim’s swelling and injuries were the worst she’d seen in her career.

Shortly after the first victim reported her rape, Van Manen’s estranged wife also came forward and informed Army CID that she had endured years of abuse, to include a violent rape in December 2023.

At that time, Van Manen and his then-wife were living in Ozark, Ala., near Fort Rucker. One evening after she rebuffed his request for sex, he became violent, threatening that he had wanted to chop her up and have sex with her dead body. He then proceeded to tie her up, cover her mouth with duct tape and video record himself raping her. After the assault, the victim called her sister saying she was terrified that he would kill her.

While under investigation for these rapes in June 2025, Van Manen was ordered to remain on post at Fort Rucker by his commander but violated that order by going off post to meet up with another woman who was not his wife. Simultaneously, he was caught by his roommate possessing and admitting to using multiple anabolic steroids.

Van Manen will serve his prison sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Upon release from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FRONT FEATURE