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Power cords traced to homeless camp

Two are arrested after transients' camp uses extension cords plugged into a subdivision's entrance gate to power lights and a TV.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published June 1, 2006

[Times photo: Carrie Pratt]

This homeless camp was recently found off U.S. 19 in Tarpon Springs. It was discovered by police when power cords were draining electricity from a nearby power source. The camp includes tents and a TV.

The people living deep in the thick palm-dotted brush along U.S. 19 have staked out a nearly invisible existence.

Embedded among the anthills and snakes, they survived without plumbing, walls, roofs. But there were certain modern staples - namely television and tunes - that some of the residents were apparently unwilling to forgo.

Peter G. Stani and George E. Hopton were arrested by Tarpon Springs police last week and accused of stealing electricity.

The extension cords gave them away, police say.

Landscape contractors called authorities after allegedly witnessing Hopton plugging into an outlet on the entrance gate to the River Watch subdivision. Horton had strung together a series of orange cords deep in the thicket that buffers the neat suburban development from U.S. 19, police said. At the other end, police found an extensive transient camp, with strings of lights, a television set and a boom box.

"All the comforts of home," said Ron Gordon, one of the contractors. "I'm impressed."

Police had first come across the setup the previous day. Officer Emanuel Margoulis said he was responding to a noise complaint from a resident of the nearby River Watch subdivision when he ventured back into the brush. In a clearing about 250 feet from the highway, he found several tents and tarps, and five men and a woman drinking beer, listening to music.

Margoulis said he warned the group that tapping power from electricity lines and camping outside of designated campgrounds are illegal. He disconnected and cut the red weathered extension cords and gave the group 24 hours to leave.

But a day later, the landscapers saw Horton plugging into the outlet again, with a brand-new cache of orange extension cords.

Stani, 60, was charged with a misdemeanor count and Hopton, 31, was charged with a felony count of "theft of utilities." Hopton was convicted of vehicle theft last August and larceny in 1996. Stani remains in jail in lieu of $150 bail. Hopton's bail is $5,000.

J. Allen MacKenzie, a police spokesman, said transient camps are common throughout the city, but this one stood out.

"That's unusual because there is usually no power," he said.

He added that police are not breaking up transient camps, but the extension cords in this case pose serious safety threats.

"(Transients) don't tend to be more dangerous than the rest of the population," he said.

According to the county's annual homeless survey, an average of 4,710 people are homeless every night in Pinellas County. Of those, 98 are families with children. In addition, each week an average of 368 people will lose their current place to stay.

Cary Murphy, the other landscaper who called authorities, said both men were extremely polite and cooperative with police. Hopton volunteered information about his past run-ins with the law.

A week later, with the two men still in jail, the tents and appliances remained at the site. A beaten rabbit ear antenna lay nearby. There were no people, just piles of empty beer cans, tarps, plastic tables and chairs and a grill.

Inside one of the tents was a paperback copy of the Bible. On crates were stacks of canned peaches and corn.

Scattered about were jeans and T-shirts, a leather purse, a bottle of chianti and a copy of the St. Petersburg Times from March.

Leaning against nearby trees were four bikes, one of which was chained with a padlock.

[Last modified June 1, 2006, 00:51:13]