A former Kitsap County evidence clerk was charged earlier this week with stealing an obscure Italian handgun from the Poulsbo Police evidence locker, a gun she'd allegedly witnessed being destroyed.

The clerk, Amanda M. Dixon, 23, was already facing a similar charge, according to a lengthy news release issued Thursday by the Kitsap County Sheriff, detailing a case with more twists than 'The Italian Job.' "

The earlier case, last year, involved a .380 caliber semi-automatic. Dixon swore she'd seen it destroyed. But a member of her family turned it over to Poulsbo police in July, and she was charged with theft. She was released on her own recognizance on Aug. 1.

She had resigned from the Poulsbo police in June.

By then, a second gun -- an Italian-made a Rino Galesi .22 caliber semi-automatic -- was already missing from the Police evidence locker. In May, before she resigned, Dixon swore she'd seen it, too, destroyed.

It's unclear from the news release whether Poulsbo police realized the Italian gun had been stolen, but in September, after a traffic collision, it was found under the seat of a car driven by Dixon's boyfriend, a 22 year-old felon.

A State Patrol trooper investigating the collision -- which involved a car registered to Dixon -- asked Poulsbo Police and the Kitsap County Sheriff about the Italian gun.

Its serial number, according to the news release, had been "obliterated." But state crime-lab techs restored four digits of the five-digit number, finding they matched the Italian gun from the police evidence locker.

With probable cause in hand, detectives found Dixon sitting in a Kitsap County courtroom on Tuesday morning, watching a hearing in the criminal case against her boyfriend -- he's charged with being a felon in possession of a handgun. After her arraignment on Wednesday, she was released on her own recognizance.