An employee at Thatchers Cider has been ordered to pay £1,500 in costs after he helped himself to boxes of cider.
Colin King, 60, of Walliscote Road, in Weston-super-Mare, worked as mail order co-ordinator for the business based in Sandford, North Somerset.
Bristol Crown Court heard how King was "in a position of trust" yet stole cases of cider.
Bristol Live reports King was rumbled after an anonymous tip-off to the cider maker.
Company managing director, Martin Thatcher, looked in King's boot and found 14 cases of cider inside. King was dismissed.
King was set to face trial but pleaded guilty to fraud between September 1, 2017, and December 21, 2017, by falsifying or altering orders.
Though prosecutors said he misappropriated six cases of cider, King said it was only four.
Ian Fenny, prosecuting, said King worked at the firm from 2012.
Mr Fenny told the court: "He was in a position of trust, an employee who received a great deal of support when he had been through difficult times."
In February 2017, however, the company received an anonymous telephone call alerting it to thefts taking place.
Mr Fenny said: "There was a discreet investigation by the managing director's personal assiatant.
"The investigation led to the defendant being responsible at least for some of the thefts and disposal of stock."
In December 2017, it was decided to spot-check King, and particularly his car.
It was then that a check was made and King's car boot was found to contain 14 cases of cider.
Mr Fenny said King had been responsible for handling email orders and customer deliveries, and had the ability to create false orders and dispatch cider to his home.
He pleaded guilty to fraud on the basis he used his position to create false orders and send cider to his own home using false names to try to cover his tracks.
Alec Small, defending, said the real shock for the company was that King was stealing, rather than the amount of stock taken.
Mr Small said at the time his client's family members had serious medical issues and King turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Mr Small told the court: "He was always going to get caught. It is one thing to use a false name.
"It is another thing to use false names and send things to your own address.
"It was a catastrophic error on his part."
Judge Michael Longman handed him a 12-month community order with 160 hours' unpaid work.
King was told to pay £500 compensation and ordered to pay £1,000 towards court costs at £100 per month.
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