What began with a 911 call from behind a locked bathroom door would eventually place a Fort Stewart intelligence officer before a military court, exposing a domestic-violence case documented across Chatham County and Army records.
First Lt. Benjamin S. Wasco was a Norwich University graduate, former college athlete and competitive endurance runner serving with the 3rd Infantry Division. By April 2026, the 26-year-old officer was facing the consequences of a violent encounter with his then-girlfriend nearly a year earlier.
According to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, Wasco became intoxicated during an argument with the woman at the Savannah apartment they shared on May 4, 2025.
The confrontation escalated when Wasco repeatedly pushed, kicked and struck her, according to the Army. He then strangled her as she begged for her life.
The woman escaped into a bathroom, locked the door and called 911. Savannah Police officers who responded documented injuries to her eyes, mouth, neck, midsection, legs and buttocks. She was transported to an emergency room for treatment.
The following day, she gave investigators a formal statement and allowed police to photograph her injuries.
Chatham County court records reviewed by The Salty Soldier show Wasco faced four civilian charges carrying the same May 4, 2025, offense date identified in the Army’s account.
The charges filed in Chatham County Recorder Court were battery-family violence, aggravated assault-family violence, criminal trespass involving domestic violence and aggravated battery-family violence.
The case, State of Georgia v. Benjamin Wasco, RCCR25-09778, was filed May 13, 2025. First-appearance paperwork states Wasco was arrested at approximately 4:37 p.m. on May 4.
A Chatham County court order shows Wasco was later released to the custody of the U.S. Army.
All four civilian charges were bound over to Chatham County Superior Court on June 3, 2025. Although the Recorder Court case is marked closed, the disposition for each charge states “Bind Over to Superior Court,” rather than dismissed.
The publicly accessible Recorder Court docket reviewed by The Salty Soldier does not identify a successor Superior Court case number or show the final disposition of the state charges.
On April 22, 2026, Wasco pleaded guilty at a general court-martial to two specifications of domestic violence in violation of Article 128b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
At the time, Wasco was assigned to Headquarters and Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart.
He was sentenced to 16 months of confinement and dismissal from the Army. The sentence was consistent with the terms of a plea agreement.
“This Army will not stand for officers engaging in domestic violence,” Maj. Matthew Fields, an Army special trial counsel prosecutor, said following the conviction.
After the court-martial, Wasco was confined at the Liberty County Jail in Hinesville while awaiting transfer to a military corrections facility, according to the Army.
A secondary-source Liberty County booking entry published by The Georgia Gazette identified him as Benjamin Smith Wasco and listed his booking date as April 22, 2026, the same day as the court-martial. The reason for the booking was listed as “HOLD FOR FT STEWART.”
The dismissal imposed as part of Wasco’s sentence is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. Because it was an adjudged dismissal, it remained subject to the military justice system’s required post-trial processes.
Before commissioning, Wasco attended Norwich University, where he studied political science and participated in the school’s basketball and soccer programs.
Norwich’s 2018–19 men’s basketball roster listed Wasco as a 6-foot-3, 195-pound freshman forward from Arlington, Massachusetts. He wore No. 44 and appeared in seven games without making a start.
Wasco played 21 total minutes during the season and scored eight points. He made all four of his field-goal attempts, missed four free throws and recorded two rebounds and one assist.
His Norwich biography states that he participated in basketball, soccer and track at Arlington High School and captained the basketball team during his senior year. The profile also said he aspired to work for a federal agency after graduation.
Wasco was also a goalkeeper for Norwich’s men’s soccer program. During the shortened 2020–21 season, he started two games, earned two victories and recorded one shutout.
He later competed in endurance races while serving in the Army.
Wasco completed the February 2023 Mesa Marathon in 2 hours, 57 minutes and 42 seconds, finishing the 26.2-mile race in under three hours.
In January 2025, several months before the Savannah incident, he placed second in the 50-mile Frozen: H3 ultramarathon in South Carolina. Wasco completed the race in 9 hours, 47 minutes and 21 seconds, finishing three seconds ahead of the third-place competitor.
The athlete once described by Norwich as aspiring to work for a federal agency ultimately became an Army intelligence officer. Less than four years after graduating, he left a Fort Stewart courtroom facing confinement and an adjudged dismissal from military service.
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