Benjamin Carpenter was out of cash when he walked into Woolworths at Salamander Bay on March 20 and filled his shopping trolley with $403 worth of groceries.

He covered the contents with two pillows and went through two closed cash registers blocked by strategically placed empty trolleys, a police statement facts tendered in Raymond Terrace local Court on Monday said.

Then he went to Liquorland where he helped himself to $136 worth of alcohol, leaving via the external entrance into the outdoor car park without paying.

About 4pm that day he drove to a service station at Salamander Bay, with a bit of white paper towel covering his front number plate, and filled his car with $142 worth of fuel.

Police who were there for an unrelated matter spoke to staff who told them he hadn't paid. They approached Carpenter who admitted he had no access to funds to pay for the petrol.

He offered to leave his phone and wallet with them and return in a couple of hours with the cash. When they checked his credentials police found he was wanted for an unrelated stealing matter - at which he was wearing the same singlet top.

Police found two bank cards on him but with no cash on them, as well as a couple of trays of stolen sausages. He had stuffed the white paper towel down his pants but when police threatened to search him he admitted what it was and what he'd used it for.

At Nelson Bay police station, where he was charged with two counts of larceny, he refused to be interviewed saying "It's just a f--- up".

He was also charged with shoplifting over a theft of $250 worth of marine carpet and floor mats from Bunnings in Forster on November 14, 2021.

He was caught on CCTV at that outlet, trying to exit from multiple points within the store without paying, before finally making it out undetected via the gardening section.

Police stopped him again on April 22 at Raymond Terrace because they noticed he wasn't wearing a seat belt and found he'd been suspended from driving in relation to a low-range drink driver matter until July 7.

The court heard Carpenter had struggled with drug addiction on and off since first drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis at the age of 12, with a chequered criminal history dating back to 2005, but has since achieved abstinence.

He was ordered to pay a fine of $500, over the stolen goods, as well as the two-year community corrections order.