The landscapers followed, discovering a camp complete with televisions, lights and radios. Scattered around the area were tents, bicycles, cook stoves and piles of beer cans.

“All the comforts of home,” said Ron Gordon, one of the contractors. “I’m impressed.”

Peter G. Stani and George E. Hopton were arrested by Tarpon Springs, Fla. police in early June and accused of stealing electricity.

The landscape contractors called authorities after allegedly watching Hopton plug 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.

Tarpon Springs is just north of St. Petersburg on Florida?EUR??,,????'???s west coast.

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.

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