Bizarre news story

From San Diego Union-Tribune. Edited for space.

Couple arrested in rock-throwing siege
By Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 20, 2006

SAN MARCOS – Nearly every night for a month, fist-sized rocks and pieces of brick rained down on three homes along Via Camellia.

The barrage shattered windows, dented family cars and chipped stucco, not to mention scaring residents who were afraid of getting pelted by just stepping outside.
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A married couple who had repeatedly complained to deputies about damage to their home and who claimed to have been hit by a rock were not victims after all, authorities say.

Jesus Maldonado, 25, and his wife, Krystal Maldonado, 23, were taken into custody after deputies caught a man and woman launching rocks at their neighbors' homes from their backyard, detective Sgt. Tom Bulow said.
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Neighbors, including the Maldonados, would help walk the streets in the middle of the night looking for the vandals, residents said.

“But then Jesus would say he had to go inside and check on his kids, and it would be when he was gone that they'd get hit again,” George Torres said yesterday.

It wasn't until Deputy Victor David began to notice that the Maldonados didn't seem as concerned as their neighbors about their vehicles being struck that his suspicions were aroused.

On Sunday, during a surveillance of the home, the deputy's hunch was validated, Bulow said.

“We were really shocked,” Heather Groom said about the Maldonados' arrests. “When we'd get hit at night, they'd come running over and ask, 'Did you get hit?' We would've never suspected them.”

The motivation behind the attacks is unclear, and theories abound.

Jesus Maldonado told investigators that a neighbor made an inappropriate sexual comment about his wife, Bulow said.
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Kristina Davis: (760) 476-8233; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com