For those who couldn't get the link to work..here is the article:

Portsmouth police seek 'geocacher'

By CAROL ROBIDOUX AND RICK DUMONT
Union Leader Staff and Union Leader Correspondent
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007

PORTSMOUTH – Charlie Lord is a novice geocacher. He spends hours enjoying his new high-tech hobby, which he discovered by accident a few months ago when he stumbled across a small box in a mall parking lot.

He was pretty excited about planting his eighth "cache" on Friday - a mini Altoids box rigged with a magnet for sticking in a good hiding spot, well above snow level, for fellow treasure hunters to locate using a satellite-driven Global Positioning System and coordinates posted by Lord online.

As it happened, Portsmouth police were the first to find Lord's treasure box. And they got excited, too - but not in a good way.

Now Lord, 48, of Rochester, is wanted for questioning by police after his box was confiscated Sunday from an electrical panel outside the Shaw's supermarket at Southgate Plaza.

"I'm so embarrassed," Lord said last night. "I've heard of people who actually make their caches look like something more dangerous than they are. Then I look at mine, a little mint box. No wires. No gimmicks. I never intended to cause any trouble."

Portsmouth police Lt. Rodney McQuate said detectives are waiting for a call from Lord before they decide if charges - including misdemeanor disorderly conduct and causing a false public alarm - will be lodged against him.

"We want to talk to him and find out why he's done the stupid thing he's done," said McQuate last night. Shaw's has filed a complaint that the box was there. They didn't give him permission to put anything on their property."

Lord said he first realized something had gone awry Sunday, after getting e-mail messages from fellow geocachers that the box he placed was not where he said it was, based on GPS coordinates.

"I started putting two and two together," he said. Police used the information inside the cache to send Lord an e-mail. Lord responded.

"I told them it wasn't meant to be suspicious," said Lord. "I apologized."
Feb6 geocache 317px (AP)

Geocaching scavenger hunts are coordinated over the Internet using a GPS device, a map and some clues from a web site. (AP)

Police replied, asking Lord to come get his box or to call detectives.

"I didn't have the heart to go. I mean, it's just an Altoids tin. I realize now it was a bad idea to plant the cache there, but it's hard, in an urban setting, to find good hiding places," Lord said.

McQuate said while police knew quickly that the box posed no public danger, it's important for Lord to own up to his actions.

"He can claim it's poor judgment, but how do we know he wasn't doing something suspicious? He needs to come and talk to us, so we can decide what to do next," McQuate said.

Police said they became familiar with the hobby after finding a cache left at the base of the Piscataqua River Bridge in November.

After finding Lord's cache on Sunday, police issued a news release detailing the two incidents, and cautioning those who participate in geocaching locally to understand that placing "suspicious items" on private property, bridges, electrical panels or businesses can cause public alarm - a misdemeanor that can become a felony, should a building need to be evacuated.

Timing doesn't help Lord's situation.

Last week a series of electronic devices placed around Boston, part of an advertising campaign for a program on Time Warner's Cartoon Network, caused widespread panic in the city, closing major highways and bridges for much of the day.

Yesterday the broadcasting company and advertising firm responsible for the publicity stunt agreed to pay $2 million to settle the matter without criminal charges.

By comparison, Lord feels his little tin mint box, left for the sake of fun and adventure, is hardly a crime.

According to Lord, geocachers are just a bunch of techno-scavengers who like to get out and do some hiking on their way to tracking the small hidden boxes, which normally include a log book for registering a "find" and sometimes little trinkets.

According to geocaching.com, more than 350,000 geocaches have been planted in 222 countries around the world since the first official cache was placed in Oregon in May 2000.

"It's like playing hide-and-seek with people all over the world," Lord said.

"Now that this has happened to me, I would say that maybe a mentoring system within the caching community would be helpful. I really want the public to know that geocaching is a fun way to spend your time, out exploring in the world," Lord said. "It's really good fun. I just made a mistake."

►Geocaching.com
►Wikipedia entry on 'geocaching'
►More about geocaching

Quote

You really think we should worry about this? I'm getting nervous now!!! Especially after reading the police were all over that guy trying to get a hold of him!

Well, part of that man's problem was that he didn't respond when the police left a message asking him to contact them! If the police try to reach you, you should answer their e-mails! The officer in the article explained that they might be able to clear him of wrong-doing if he would come in and speak to them, but that they couldn't just take his word for it that it was all a harmless game.

Lessons for us:
-Make your container look as harmless as possible. I like the suggestion of using just the clear ziploc bag, attached with velcro to whatever you're hiding it on. If you do use a box of some kind, for heaven's sake don't use a metal one! Think about things like little cardboard gift boxes or a folded-paper box, which may help defuse a casual viewer's fear.
-Hide your box VERY WELL. Don't use a magnet to stick it in plain view on the side or top of anything. Boxes that are hidden on the bottoms or backs of shelves are less likely to be seen by people who aren't looking for them. The "lite-brites" in Boston were plastic and metal boxes stuck with big magnets to undergirders, overpasses, the sides of buildings, etc. The fact that they were placed in high-traffic areas in plain sight was the main reason people were scared. The man in NH stuck his geocache on the side of an electrical box, right in front of a busy grocery store. Now is just not a good time for the hidden-in-plain-view variety of box, like the ones for which LockWench is famous.

With that having been said, I am planning to go tomorrow to remove all of the contact/placer information from my box! I don't think the box will be found by accident, as it is stuck to the _back _ of a bookcase that I'm sure won't ever be moved away from the wall, but I'd rather take that small step to protect myself. (I'm in Boston; you can bet I used the most hidden hiding spot I could possibly find!)

The Dread Pirate Queen

Quote

You really think we should worry about this? I'm getting nervous now!!!

Absolutely you should be worried! =) But as long as you take adequate precautions, you can do a lot to make sure this won't happen to you. For instance, don't hide Altoids tins on electrical panels. *rolling eyes* For places like malls and stores, avoiding a box completely would not be a bad idea. When I planted one at Union Station in Chicago, I didn't even include a logbook. Just a stamp and nothing but the stamp. (Nothing left to come back to me either that way, but nobody's going to mistake a stamp for an explosive device.)

I'm kind of a bit nervous having these boxes even listed on AQ to tell you the truth--especially since one of the rules is NOT getting permission to hide the box. If something did happen with one of those boxes being mistaken for something worse than it is, I'd rather not have AQ be involved.

If any of them find it and complain to me, I'll delete the box immediately, but I worry if I should be more proactive about not allowing such boxes. But at the very least, if you hide urban boxes, you really, really need to make sure nobody will mistake it for something worse than it really is. Label the outside of it or use a clear box. Don't put it in a "suspicious" location like on an electrical panel or (heaven forbid) a propane tank. The store may not like you hiding such packages on their property, but they REALLY get mad if it ends up evacuating their building and being on the six o'clock news. It's not worth the problem. Hide smart.

-- Ryan

if i heard right, most of us didn't put AQ anywhere on or in the boxes.
i did plan with my email address on the logbook, which i feel i should fix, if i keep my box out there to be found.

even though i contemplate pulling my box, it was not my intention to draw attantion to others and make anyone else question whether they should as well. as i had mentioned before, i just have more baggage on my shoulders and don't need anymore if the store finds it a charges me with anything.

AQ is safe on my end, its me i'm worried about!
david (team new hampshire)
http://teamnewhampshire.blogspot.com

I dod not mention AQ or even my trail name or home e-mail. if you find the box without looking for it through clues you accessed from AQ you would really have no idea (I hope) about its origin.
six stars

I've been reading this, and similar threads, and wrestling with whether or not to change my container (Altoids tin) and redo the logbook (I have way to much info in there) or just pull the box. I've decided to pull the box. I don't need any more drama in my life.

Question: Since it has not had any AQ finders, should I just delete it?

:)FreezyCat

We're going to remove anything with AQ and our trailname on it. Also I'm going to put something on the top of the box identifying it as a letterbox, nothing more sinister. Hopefully that'll put at ease the mind of whoever mistakenly finds it...

Mama Phoenix (who honestly didn't think about the possibility that a letterbox would ever be mistaken for something bad... I guess I was thinking a little too innocently)