Group Demands Trustee Alpay Take Down Misleading Website

The lawyer for a group whose name was co-opted in a website address bought by a current Capistrano Unified school board member has demanded that the trustee take down the misleading URL by the end of the day Wednesday.

Attorney Wayne Tate sent a letter Wednesday to Trustee John Aplay, insisting he shut down www.holdcusdaccountable.com, which is virtually the same as Hold CUSD Accountable’s real website but with a dot-com suffix instead of dot-org.

“I’m trying to get Alpay to do the right thing and take down his deceptive and misleading website,” Tate said.

Alpay did not respond to a reporter’s inquiry. The site was still active late Wednesday night.

Hold CUSD Accountable is a small group of parents opposed to the current majority on the Capistrano Unified Board of Trustees, including Alpay. It is endorsing three candidates, including Alpay’s .

Alpay’s bogus website, which he acknowledged buying, redirects visitors to the website for Capistrano Unified Children First, an advocacy group in step with the teachers’ union and the current board majority. It endorses Alpay, among others.

Patch has found at least six other deceptive websites. Internet hosting company , as the registered owner of most of those sites, but Korpi says an impostor set them up.

After publication of Patch's first story, six of the seven sites were disabled, but Alpay’s remained operable.

“You gotta give, begrudgingly, Korpi some credit,” said Tate. “When the poop hits the fan, it’s time to turn off the fan.”

Unlike the sites linked to Korpi, Alpay's version of Hold CUSD Accountable keeps his misleading URL in the address bar while the content is entirely from the Children First site, including its working links.