Lotto Winners: We're Not Brangelina

Deputies want to keep "normal" life

If you didn't already check your lottery ticket from Friday's Mega Millions drawing, don't bother. The lucky winners already stepped forward.

The  Bay Area's latest multi-millionaires are two Marin County sheriff's deputies. They won $75 million in the Mega Millions drawing on Friday.

Anneliese Hansen and Brian Cabaud bought one of the three winning tickets in a $227 million jackpot in the multi-state contest, according to Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso. They purchased the ticket at a Chevron gas station in Mill Valley.

The couple talked to a crowd of (no doubt, jealous) reporters Tuesday and told them that, naturally, they're going to Disneyland.

Hansen and Cabaud haven't yet chosen between receiving their winnings in cash or in an annuity, but they say they will keep their lives pretty much normal, even though their bank accounts are far from ordinary now.

"We're definitely not Brad Pitt and Angelina Joilie," the mega-lucky couple said, "so we very much hope to keep our lives as they are now."

If they choose the cash option, they will each receive about $24 million before federal taxes.  The Chevron station in Mill Valley will receive a bonus of $375,000, which is one-half of 1 percent of the jackpot the station sold.

They haven't decided if they'll return to work, like "regular" people, but Hansen and Cabaud said they will be helping some of their recently fallen comrades. They plan to donate some of the winnings to the families of the four Oakland officers who were gunned down in March.

"Now that we have an opportunity not just to show our support in presence there," Cabaud said, "but to show our support to their families, is huge for us."

The other two winning tickets were purchased in Ohio and Virginia.

Heroic History

Cabaud received a "Life Saving Medal" at a ceremony late last year  for rescuing a 77-year-old woman who had gone missing and was found floating  in a canal behind her home in Bel Marin Keys, an unincorporated area east of  Novato, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.

The woman had been reported missing by her husband and Cabaud spotted her in the canal, entered the water, and brought her to shore, sheriff's officials said.

Cabaud checked the woman's pulse and noted that she was very cold even though it appeared she was breathing normally. He requested paramedics who rendered first aid and saved the woman's life, sheriff's officials said.

Hansen was involved in an on-duty accident last May in Nicasio in which she suffered moderate to severe injuries, according to the sheriff's office.

Preliminary reports at the time indicated that Hansen was turning her patrol car onto westbound Petaluma Point Reyes Road from Laurel Canyon Road and collided with a Lexus SUV that was traveling east, sheriff's officials said. The other driver suffered minor injuries.

Hansen was taken in a helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and later released.

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