A Denver police officer will be suspended without pay for 15 days after he paid a prostitute $40 and then continued a brief relationship with her.

Under typical police disciplinary rules, Cpl. Zachery Phillips would have been fired. But officials decided Phillips deserved a second chance because of his otherwise exemplary career, according to a copy of his disciplinary letter obtained by The Denver Post.

Phillips told investigators that he did not know the woman he’d paid $40 for an in-home massage was a prostitute, the letter said.

Phillips signed an agreement that he would not challenge the disciplinary findings and acknowledged that he would be fired if he receives another violation within the next 12 months, the disciplinary letter said.

An investigation into Phillips’ relationship with the woman began in February after a Denver Police Department vice narcotics team conducted an undercover prostitution investigation at a hotel on the 600 block of North Speer Boulevard, the letter said. The woman was charged with possession of a controlled substance and prostitution. Detectives found crack cocaine in a hotel room the woman was using, the letter said.

After the woman paid bail and left the Downtown Detention Center, she agreed to talk to detectives about local online escort services, pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers, the letter said. During the interview, she allegedly told them that she had been paid for sexual acts by a Denver police officer.

When confronted, Phillips told investigators that the woman, who was identified as SJ in the letter, had come to his house to give him a massage in November or December and that he had paid her “around $40.”

“Corporal Phillips admitted that SJ spent the night and slept with him in his bed,” the letter said. “However, he denied there were any sexual acts performed by SJ while she was at his house. The preponderance of the evidence indicates that he paid SJ for a sexual act.”

Phillips and the woman continued to have a relationship and “dated for a brief period following the encounter at his home,” the letter said. While Phillips denied knowing the woman was a prostitute, the letter said credible evidence indicated otherwise.

Still, the letter said, “Corporal Phillips is a productive member of the department, has a good work history and no significant disciplinary history.”

In 2013, Phillips received a Citizens Appreciate Police award, given to officers who go beyond the call of duty to serve the community. He and another officer were recognized for helping a homeless woman who had been seen walking on Interstate 70.

The officers paid for a hotel room for the woman and made sure she was safe for a few days until her grandfather could pick her up, according to a story previously published in The Denver Post.