A woman who allegedly stole two Mothers Against Drunk Driving donation canisters with the help of a young boy at a liquor store has been arrested.

Van Ngoc Do, 39, of 25 Hale Spring Road, Plaistow, faces two charges of theft by unauthorized taking.

On Saturday, Sept. 29, she allegedly swiped the canisters at the New Hampshire State Liquor Store on Route 28 in Salem.

Police said the woman quickly put one of the canisters into her large pocketbook at a cash register counter while the boy acted as a lookout.

After walking to another register counter, the boy moved the canister near the counter’s edge and the woman placed it in her pocketbook, according to police.

After Salem Police Sgt. Steve Malisos reviewed a video surveillance tape from the store, he entered a physical description of the woman into the Police Department’s digital imaging system.

Of 12,000 booking photos searched, the system came up with 18 matching photos. Of the 18 photos, one photo – that of Do, who had previously been arrested for shoplifting – matched the woman Malisos saw on the video, according to an affidavit.

Malisos reviewed a police report of that shoplifting case from June 2004, which stated that an Asian woman and a young boy committed several thefts at the Target department store in Salem.

A clerk at the liquor store, Nancy Emery-Debaulgh, picked Do from photos of eight Asian women with similar physical characteristics that were shown to her by Malisos, according to his affidavit.

A day earlier, when interviewed by Malisos, Emery-Debaulgh had told him that she had observed an Asian boy and woman at a cash register counter and was told by a cashier only a couple of minutes after the pair left that a canister was missing from the counter.

Deputy Chief Bill Ganley said police have not yet identified the boy, who is believed to be 7 to 10 years old. Do could face additional charges for using him in the theft, he said.

Do, who was freed on $1,000 cash bail following her arrest, will be arraigned in Salem District Court on Nov. 19.

She was convicted of shoplifting in Salem District Court in June 2004, and in Rockingham County Superior Court in March 2006, according to court records.