Christopher Viatafa is a 27-year-old guy in the Bay Area, who is probably a lot like you. Like you probably have (but should really be very careful about doing) he Googled himself to see what the Internet had to say about him. And, as it turns out, the Internet had a lot to say. Turns out, Viatafa had—unbeknownst to him—become one of California’s most wanted criminals, after firing a gun into the floor of a private party at a senior center(?) last winter. His picture had gone up on NorthernCaliforniaMostWanted.org, but he’d just carried on with his life, none the wiser.
Fortunately, Viatafa made the smart choice to turn himself in to the authorities. “Although it wasn’t good judgment that landed him on the website, he did use good judgment in turning himself in after seeing his photo,” said San Leandro police. And he gave us all an important lesson in Googling yourself: be prepared for anything …