Bail bonds owner fatally shot in RSM
BY CINDY CARCAMO
2010-07-18 10:47:28

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – The owner of a bail bonds business died after he was shot by another man at least once at a home here in an upscale neighborhood, Orange County Sheriff's officials said.

A little before midnight Saturday, a man who authorities later identified as Dean Patrick Maldonado was shot by a 51-year-old man who was a guest at a home on the 21300 block of Stonetower Drive, Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Maldonado, 49, runs Maldonado Bail Bonds in Newport Beach.

Amormino said Maldonado was an acquaintance of the woman who owns the two-story home. The 51-year-old was inside the home with the woman when Maldonado came into the home through a rear sliding door. Some time afterwards, the shooting occurred, Amormino said.

Maldonado died at the scene.

It's unclear, however, what led up to the shooting and the investigation is ongoing, Amormino said. Investigators are still at the scene and in the midst of sorting out what happened and have held off on making any arrests for now, he added.

Maldonado's daughter Megan Maldonado said Sunday that the home her father had visited in Rancho Santo Margarita belongs to his girlfriend.

Property records show that the home belongs to Linda Sprowl, who is also known as Linda Shaw-Sprowl, a fitness trainer in Trabuco Canyon.

Reached by telephone on Sunday, Sprowl declined to comment.

"I'm not available at the moment," she said before hanging up.

In a telephone interview, Megan Maldonado said that she doesn't know the details of her father's death. However, she did say that her father was a very positive person.

His Facebook page shows several inspirational phrases such as "If You Don't Like Something Change It; If you Can't Change It, Change the Way You Think About It," which he wrote on his wall on Tuesday.

Megan Maldonado said her father was the type of person who struck up conversations with just about anyone.

"He would meet a waitress at our table and have a full on conversation with her," she said.

Maldonado, a father of three children, was a bodybuilder who loved fitness and the beach, said Megan, who is his oldest child.

"The beach and his kids were his life," said the 24-year-old. "He loved life and enjoyed everything. We were his life."

Maldonado's Bail Bonds Facebook page describes Maldonado as single Newport Beach resident.

His last Facebook entry was Thursday when he wrote "I'm a Sucker for Love."

Sounds like his girlfriend had another man. At that point you can walk away. Or you can go full retard and start a confrontation at midnight in her house.  This looks like a lawful shoot.

Deputies: Guest owned gun in bail bondsman's killing
By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
2010-07-20 10:59:56

The handgun that was used to fatally shoot a 49-year-old bail bondsman over the weekend belonged to the 51-year-old shooter, authorities said, a male guest inside the Rancho Santa Margarita home.

Dean Patrick Maldonado, of Maldonado Bail Bonds in Newport Beach, was shot and killed Saturday night after authorities said he entered the home of a female friend through an unlocked sliding door.

Authorities said Maldonado walked into the home just before midnight Saturday night, and was shot a few minutes afterward.

Property records show the home belongs to Linda Sprowl, also known as Linda Shaw-Sprowl, a fitness consultant. Relatives said Sprowl and Maldonado had been romantically involved.

Investigators so far have not divulged details as to what led up to the shooting, or released the name of the 51-year-old man who fired the weapon at the 21300 block of Stonetower Drive.

No arrests have been made.

Investigator Dan Salcedo said the handgun used in the shooting belonged to Sprowl's guest, but he declined to comment when asked why the guest was in possession of the weapon at the time.

Amormino said the 51-year-old guest is not a sworn officer or a member of a law enforcement agency.

Court records show that Shaw is undergoing a divorce from her husband of 10 years, but authorities said the shooter was not her husband.

Investigators spent Monday interviewing the two witnesses and relatives, following up on their investigation from the shooting, Salcedo said. An autopsy was also done.

When asked if the man suspected in the shooting was defending himself, Salcedo said investigators were waiting for autopsy results and further investigation to make that determination.

Authorities did not say whether an arrest will be made in the case, but said they would submit the investigation's findings to the District Attorney's Office.

So he broke into a home and was killed....am I missing something????

Well that was as clear as mud!