Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Thursday, September 6, 2012
(WORTHINGTON) - A Wabash Valley cemetery closed after a suspicious object was found on the grounds.
The Worthington Police Department was dispatched to the Worthington Cemetery before 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday on the report that a possible explosive device was located in the barrel of a cannon.
South Jefferson Street in front of the cemetery was closed while police investigated.
The incident started when Ken Stalcup and Kermit Wilcox of Worthington VFW Post 7117 were at the memorial to raise a new POW flag on the new flagpole.
Stalcup said they noticed two small U.S. flags, that are normally inside the cannon, had been taken out and had been placed on the ground.
When Wilcox looked inside the cannon, he noticed an object that did not look like it should be there since the only thing they expected to see inside the cannon would be flags.
Stalcup said the object looked like a pipe bomb but they couldn't be sure so they got away from the area and reported it to the Worthington Police Department.
Local officers and Indiana State Police bomb technicians responded to the scene where they found a cylinder object made out of PVC pipe.
For three hours, as rain poured on investigators, nobody knew for sure what was in the cannon
As word of the incident spread around Worthington, the news reached a man who participates in geocaching and he took off for the cemetery.
Chris Franich placed the object in the cannon a few weeks ago and said he remembered telling an official from the cemetery that he was leaving the geocache there.
The object was not a bomb but instead it was a geocache, a piece used in a navigating game often using GPS, something that many people play across America.
Indiana State Police say they are working with the geocache society to hopefully avoid situations like this one in the future.
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