SEQUIM, Wash. - Police say a 12-year-old boy was found safe after he set off a six-hour manhunt with what investigators say was a practical joke.

The search began Friday afternoon when a worker at an Applebee's Restaurant in Sequim found a note beneath his plate that read "Help Me."

The child was later found safe with his father at a home in Gig Harbor and told officers he had left the note as a joke.

Sequim police plan to refer the case to the city attorney's office to determine whether the boy's parents will be billed for the cost of the search, which involved more than a dozen officers and dispatchers in Clallam and Pierce counties.