>If I found a reference that said someone of a similar name had been a
>criminal, I would probably have to ignore it unless I could prove it
>was the same individual.  Checking live references is a better way to
>find that out, and that is not always certain.

Yeah, that can take a bit of doing. When I was working in NZ, there was
another Alan Pearce working in different electronics company to the one I
worked in. About the time I got married another Alan Pearce was had up on
drugs charges, and yet another Alan Pearce who was a policeman was noted in
an article in the newspaper as being injured in some way in pursuit of a
suspect - this all in a country of less than 4 million people at the time! I
also saw an paper published in an American magazine by a Dr. Alan Pearce at
around this time.

Now I have moved to the UK, and work in a laboratory where there is another
Alan Pearce working in the same department, and in the same wing of the
building - but he has no middle name (which is why I have taken to using my
middle initial in my email alias). I have also seen letters published in the
local newspapers by at least two other Alan Pearce's.

Ah, well, what it is to have a common name - guess I can always point the
finger elsewhere if the cops end up chasing me. ;))

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