UPDATED: Suspicious device found at MPC and turns out to be geocache; all clear issued.

The Monterey Peninsula College Child Development Center was evacuated just after 2:30pm on Wednesday, July 18, and the college's upper parking lot blocked off after a worker found a possible pipe bomb, according to the Monterey Police Department.

UPDATE: An "all clear" was issued just after 4:15pm, after bomb squad officers determined the device was a geocache designed to look like a pipe bomb, according to Lt. Mike Bruno of the Monterey Police Department.

The bomb squad first destroyed the device, then examined it to determine what it was.

"The lesson would be don't make your geocache made to look like a pipe bomb," Bruno says.

MPC President Walt Tribley confirms that all is well, after the Monterey County Sheriff's bomb squad—including its explosive-trained dog—completed the task.

"I'm very pleased that nobody was hurt," says Tribley.

The rest of the original post:

The public is advised to stay clear of the area until the device can be confirmed positively by the Monterey County Sheriff's bomb squad. 

A group of children and child care workers were taken to the college's cafeteria shortly after Monterey Police confirmed the device was potentially explosive.

According to Monterey Police Lt. Mike Bruno, an employee doing some landscaping work in a grassy area discovered what looked to be a pipe bomb, and alerted authorities at 2:24pm.

MPC President Walt Tribley confirms that the area has been evacuated and an emergency operations center has been established on the campus. MPC officials are asking all students, staff and faculty who are on campus to remain in place until further notice.

As of about 3:30pm the bomb squad was en route from Salinas where they'd just finished investigating what turned out to be a non-credible bomb threat at Natividad, where the county hospital and a complex of other county buildings is located. 

Editor's Note: This post was updated with new information from the Monterey Police Department and MPC President Walt Tribley.