SPRINGFIELD TWP, Mercer County — Curses. Foiled again.

An alleged shoplifter is headed for trial on charges she used so-called “booster bags” in the commission of her alleged crime earlier his month, at the Premium Outlets in Springfield Township.

State police said Elise M. Burks, 49, of Pittsburgh used shopping bags lined with aluminum foil Dec. 4, when she tried to defeat antishoplifting devices.

“She said she came up with the idea from watching videos online,” Trooper Alexis McBride, the investigating officer, said Monday.

The scheme, however, didn't go as planned and Burks was subsequently arrested at the outlet mall — but not before she had purportedly made off with property from two stores.

In all, Burks was found with nearly $1,000 in merchandise in her foil-lined bags.

This is not her first arrest for the same crime. Court records show she has more than two dozen prior shoplifting convictions.

At Burks' preliminary hearing on Thursday Senior District Judge William Fagley ordered her held for court on a felony charge of retail theft and a misdemeanor charge of possessing an instrument of crime.

The term “booster bag” in police parlance comes from “boost” which is slang for stealing or shoplifting.

The bags are designed to hide stolen merchandise from security devices, theft sensors, and similar units installed by retailers to thwart the theft of merchandise.

Aluminum foil or metal tape are used in some instance to line the bags, police said.

The modified bags sometimes work, sometimes not.

Burks admitted her bags did not work, as it turned out, McBride said.

Still, the defendant was able to make it through two stores despite setting off the detectors. Her luck ran out at the Calvin Klein outlet, police said, where an employee saw her taking items.

She had $983 in suspected stolen merchandise, primarily clothing, in her bags.

Because of her numerous prior shoplifting convictions, Burks is charged with felony retail theft. According to online court records, she has 25 previous retail theft convictions, mostly in Allegheny County.