POULSBO — A former Poulsbo police clerk and Viking Fest princess has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a handgun.

Amanda Marie Dixon, 22, was booked into Kitsap County Jail on July 29 for felony theft of a firearm that had been held in evidence at the Poulsbo Police Department and believed destroyed. Investigators believe Dixon  — a police evidence clerk at the time of the alleged theft — stole the Bryce Arms .308 semi-automatic pistol instead of disposing of it according to department policy.

Dixon and her parents declined to comment.

Dixon was first arrested on June 27 for misdemeanor drug charges and obstructing a law enforcement officer. Dixon, who lives in Bremerton, is alleged to have possessed a backpack containing illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia while housesitting for friends on NE Lincoln Road in Poulsbo.

Charges have not been filed by the Prosecutor’s Office on the drug offenses.

Dixon was arrested for the firearms offense after an interview July 29 at the Sheriff’s Office and released from jail on her own recognizance by District Court Judge Marilyn Paja Monday evening. Dixon’s next hearing is Aug. 11. A public defense attorney was not assigned as of deadline Thursday.

According to preliminary police reports, Dixon’s father, Eddy Dixon, turned a firearm in to the Poulsbo Police Department and alleged it had been in his daughter’s possession while she was living at his home on Wavecrest Road. A records search of the serial number revealed the pistol was stored in police evidence for an unrelated case in 2004 and logged as properly disposed of on July 11, 2010, the report stated.

Because the allegation involved a department employee, Poulsbo Police Chief Dennis L. Swiney requested that the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office investigate.

Swiney would not comment on the investigation but acknowledged the serious nature of the case.

“My task at this point is not to deflect or excuse but to review process and procedures to see if a deficiency occurred,” Swiney said. “I will take appropriate action in hopes to reduce or mitigate the likelihood of its reoccurrence.”

According to city records, Dixon joined the Poulsbo Police Department as a part-time employee on April 1, 2007 and was hired as a full-time police clerk April 16, 2008. Her duties as a police clerk included “assisting in the destruction or returning of items in following the established procedures for the property room.”

Placed on administrative leave by Poulsbo Police on June 21 pending investigation, Dixon submitted a letter of resignation on June 28, the day of her release from jail on the drug charge.

Dixon graduated from North Kitsap High School in 2007. She was involved in FFA and supported the Cystic Fibrosis Walk-a-thon. She was sponsored by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Guild in her bid for Miss Viking Fest, earning a scholarship as a runner-up.

Theft of a firearm is a felony punishable by a maximum penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment and a $20,000 fine.