A small-town police officer in western Pennsylvania police is accused of patronizing a prostitute while on-duty, then trying to cover it up.

As TribLive.com reports, the disgraced officer, Tyler Valimont, 34, formerly with the Farrell Police Department in Mercer County, Pa., faces charges of patronizing a prostitute, obstructing law enforcement, official oppression and two counts of evidence tampering - all misdemeanors.

The investigation by Pennsylvania State Police alleges Valimont contacted the 27-year-old woman through an online ad, then met her while working the overnight shift on Nov. 7.

TribLive.com reports Valimont was seen with the woman by another officer on patrol.

According to police, this prompted Valimont to cut short the encounter and later file a false report claiming he was cultivating a confidential informant, TribLive.com writes.

Since then, the woman, who was not identified in the report, has told police Valimont was a customer who threatened to arrest her if she refused to answer his texts, which were "personal and sexual in nature and served no legitimate law enforcement purpose," according to the criminal compliant cited by TribLive.com.

She also told police that Valimont urged her to lie to investigators.

TribLive.com notes that Valimont faces up to a year in prison for the prostitution count, while the other charges each carry up to two years in prison.