CLEVELAND, Ohio – An Oakwood Village police officer once honored as Esquire magazine's Hostess of the Year was indicted Thursday on federal gun charges.

Marcia Masters, 47, of Beachwood, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Kenneth McHargh during a brief afternoon hearing, after which she was released on a $30,000 personal bond. Her attorney, Dominic Coletta, declined to comment.

Masters, who also goes by her married surname of Krone, was charged in a one-count federal indictment with making false or fictitious statements in order to acquire a firearm or ammunition. McHargh ordered the indictment unsealed after Masters turned herself in and was arrested earlier Thursday.

According to the indictment, on March 27, 2013, Masters bought a .22-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, and two .223-caliber Colt rifles at a gun dealership in Broadview Heights. During the transaction, Masters lied in an attempt to deceive the dealer by stating she was buying the guns as a representative of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which was not true, the indictment said.

Cleveland restaurateur Brad Friedlander said he found the charges filed against Masters hard to believe.

"I'm a close friend of hers and I've never known her to be anything but wonderful," Friedlander said. "I can't imagine her posing as an ATF agent."

In 2005, Masters was working as a hostess for Friedlander at Red the Steakhouse on Richmond Road in Beachwood at night, while during the day she was attending the Cleveland Heights Police Academy.

That interesting juxtaposition of careers caught the attention of Esquire. They named Masters Hostess of the Year, photographed her in a slinky, strapless black dress, and published a Q&A, in which she talked about receiving $100 and $200 tips, turning down offers to fly to exotic locations, and of her intentions to keep her hostess job after she put on a police uniform.

"There's not a lot of money in policing," Masters told the magazine. "Here, I can come home with two to three hundred dollars a night in tips."

Masters didn't do double duty for long, however, and eventually left the restaurant to work police duty full-time, said Mimi Hargate, a manager at Red's. Once, however, Hargate recalled, Masters worked security in uniform for the restaurant's employee party on Super Bowl Sunday.

Masters has been suspended from her job at the Oakwood Village police department.