A police officer in Moundsville, West Virginia lost his job and faces criminal charges after being caught online by the mother of the 15-year-old girl he allegedly assaulted.

WTOV-TV reported that the girl’s mother encountered 26-year-old Patrolman Benjamin Davis online after creating a fake online profile describing herself as another underage girl.

“She created this account and basically Mr. Davis answered that, and she was posing as a 17-year-old female in the Marshall County area,” State Police Sgt. Mathew Adams said. “They began chatting with each other and planned to meet at some point.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Instead, the woman revealed that she was the victim’s mother, reportedly telling him, “your actions will make people trust cops even less.”

Investigators said they recovered naked pictures of the girl from both her cell phone and Davis’. He was allowed to resign from his position instead of being fired, and was charged with third-degree sexual assault and soliciting a minor.

“It’s one of those it-ruined-my-whole-day type of things,” Police Chief Tom Mitchell said. “I didn’t see it coming. I got the call, went and met with the state police and they told me what was going on, and we absolutely have a duty to the citizens to make sure that our guys are not doing these type of things.”

Watch WTOV’s report, as aired on Friday, below.