A Good Samaritan who rescued a family from their crashed van has been billed by paramedics. 
 
 Derrick Deanda is being charged $143 after first responders checked his pulse and gave him a bottle of water after he saved a father and his three children from the rolled-over vehicle. 
 
 He was driving past the scene in Elk Grove, California, in September 2015 when he pulled over and saw the man standing in the vehicle holding a two-year-old child. 
 
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 Derrick Deanda (left) is being charged $143 after first responders checked his pulse and gave him a bottle of water after he saved a father and his three children from the rolled-over vehicle 
 
 He was driving past the scene in Elk Grove, California, in September 2015 when he pulled over and saw the man standing in the vehicle holding a two-year-old child. He then smashed the window to see if the passengers were OK 
 
 Deanda then smashed a window to check if everyone was OK, but suffered a small cut in the process. 
 
 When paramedics arrived, they checked him over after attending to those inside the car. 
 
 But months later Cosumnes Community Services sent him the bill for the 'first responders fee'. 
 
 He told CBS Sacramento: 'I mean why would I want to stop to help somebody if I'm going to get a bill for $150?' 
 
 On Facebook, he posted a picture of the bill and a scary image of the crashed van. 
 
 'So I guess this is how Good Samaritans are treated when they stop at an accident scene to help somebody,' he wrote. 
 
 'I asked the paramedics for a bottle of water to clean my hand off because I had a small scrape on my hand they ask me questions and they consider that an assessment on me. 
 
 'They asked me for my name and information so I give it to him. Then a couple months later I get a bill for $143 for a bottle of water?' 
 
 When paramedics arrived, they checked him over after attending to those inside the car. But months later Cosumnes Community Services sent him the bill for the 'first responders fee' 
 
 'Makes you wonder why people don't want to stop to help at an accident scene. All I can say is the look on the man's face when I was able to break that windshield and get him and his kids out of that vehicle was all the thanks I needed. 
 
 'I'm glad I was able to help. But now I have a bill to pay and they won't let it go.' 
 
 Deputy Chief Mike McLaughlin confirmed his district billed Deanda. 
 
 ''We're obligated to provide the same level of service, the same billing the same everything, for every patient we encounter,' he told the station. 
 
 He said Deanda technically became a patient when he suffered the cut. 
 
 'This is truly a unique situation,' he said. 'In my 28 years, this is my first time I've run into a situation similar to this.' 
 
 The district began implementing the fee two years ago in a move it says prevents fire station brownouts. 
 
 But in this case, McLaughlin says he'd like to see the fee waived. ||||| ELK GROVE (CBS13) — A man who helped a family trapped a crash got a bill in the mail for his unselfish act. 
 
 Paramedics sent him the first-responder fee of nearly $150 after he says they only checked his pulse and gave him a bottle of water. 
 
 A photo shows the aftermath of the scary rollover crash that trapped a man and his three children trapped inside. 
 
 Derrick Deanda jumped into action and recounted the heart-pounding moment. 
 
 “I pulled up right as it happened,” he said. “There was a guy standing inside the van, because it was on its side, holding a 2 year-old infant.” 
 
 Deanda broke the glass to free the family before paramedics arrived. Everyone was OK. 
 
 But weeks later Deanda got a bill in the mail from the Cosumnes Community Services District with a $143 first-responder fee. 
 
 Deputy Chief Mike McLaughlin says his district billed the good Samaritan. 
 
 “We’re obligated to provide the same level of service, the same billing the same everything, for every patient we encounter,” he said. 
 
 Deanda became a patient, he says, when a paramedic at the scene checked him out after breaking the van window to help save the family inside. Deanda had a small cut. 
 
 “This is truly a unique situation,” he said. “In my 28 years, this is my first time I’ve run into a situation similar to this.” 
 
 The district began implementing the fee two years ago in a move it says prevents fire station brownouts. 
 
 But in this case, McLaughlin says he’d like to see the fee waived. 
 
 “There is a mechanism for appealing this. a mechanism for making this right. Our desire it to make it right,” he said. 
 
 But for now, this heroic act deserving of a medal has Deanda facing a bill. 
 
 “I mean why would I want to stop to help somebody if I’m going to get a bill for $150?” he said. 
 
 Deanda plans to appeal and hopes the matter is resolved before it goes to collections. ||||| Salinas: One of two women arrested is former correctional officer 
 
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 One of two women accused of starving, chaining and abusing three children in Monterey County is a former correctional officer, while the other was a businesswoman and counselor at clinics in California and New Mexico, according to their online professional profiles and court filings. 
 
 Sheriff's deputies rescued three children from the couple's residence on Russell Road north of Salinas on March 14, citing horrific conditions and an "emaciated" 8-year-old girl who looked like "a concentration camp" victim, said Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller. 
 
 Also taken from the home were two boys, ages 3 and 5. 
 
 Miller said Eraca Dawn Craig, 31, and Christian Jessica Deanda, 44, are accused of felony child cruelty, false imprisonment and other charges. 
 
 Deputies conducted a welfare check at the house after the children didn't show up for an unspecified appointment, detectives said. 
 
 They found the children, who were home-schooled, living in squalid conditions and "fairly dire straits," Miller said. 
 
 The girl was the most abused, deputies said, though all three had bruises and other marks and appeared to be malnourished. 
 
 Officers said they found signs the girl had been chained to the wall and said she may have been held in a closet. Investigators believe she was shackled at times at the ankle and at other times by a collar around her neck. 
 
 One deputy reported the girl was chained "to keep her from obtaining food." 
 
 Miller said it appeared she had "hardly eaten for months." 
 
 The girl and the 5-year-old boy were legally adopted children, he said, while the 3-year-old boy is the biological son of one of the women, who are domestic partners. 
 
 The rescued 8-year-old was immediately hospitalized for about five days, Miller said, and appeared to be "very traumatized." 
 
 The children were placed in foster homes. 
 
 "It seems that the little girl was the major target of this abuse," he said. "It was a particularly heinous case." 
 
 He said there were indications the women were preparing to leave the area soon. 
 
 Detectives said moving boxes were packed and the women told them they were planning to move to the Fresno area. 
 
 Miller said when children are rescued from terrifying conditions, they are not usually "jumping up and down in joy. They may have forgotten what joy is like." 
 
 Law enforcement officers' description of the grim scenario stands in contrast to the women's online business profiles. 
 
 Posting as Cristian Deanda-Craig on LinkedIn.Com, Deanda wrote about her cactus nursery in New Mexico: "I am currently in a place that makes me happy both personally and professionally. I left me (sic) job to be home with my kids. I loved gardening and soon found myself selling flowers to neighbors. So my partner and I started our business — the best decision ever! I enjoy watching my kids grow and my flowers!" 
 
 Under previous jobs, she lists work as an HIV prevention case manager at John XXIII AIDS Ministry in Salinas from 2001-04, and later as a psychosocial therapy manager at Valencia Counseling Services in Estancia, N.M. 
 
 Deanda was a program manager at a transitional housing facility for men in Gallup, N.M., according to the profile. 
 
 Public records show she lived in Castroville and Salinas as well as New Mexico. 
 
 Deanda and Craig were scheduled to be married March 29, according to an online gift registry. 
 
 Craig, whose profile is listed under Eraca Craig-Deanda, earned a degree in auto mechanics management from Hartnell College in 2013, according to the site. 
 
 Before that, she was a detention officer at the Navajo County, Ariz., sheriff's office in 2005-06 and a corrections officer at a New Mexico corrections facility from December 2006 to May 2010. 
 
 More recently, her occupation was listed as auto mechanic. 
 
 Records show she left New Mexico in May 2010, moving to the Russell Road address in Salinas. 
 
 Soon after moving back to Salinas, Craig filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 
 
 Almost immediately, she began defaulting on agreed-upon monthly payments, federal court records show. The case was ultimately thrown out for failure to pay two days before her arrest. 
 
 Craig earned about $36,000 a year as a New Mexico correctional officer, according to her filing, but was receiving unemployment assistance and food stamps in Salinas at the time of her bankruptcy petition. 
 
 The children were listed as her dependent sons and daughter in the filing, which was made when her youngest son was 6 months old. 
 
 Neither woman appears to have a criminal record in Monterey County. 
 
 Asked why his office delayed announcing the arrests, Miller said officials were investigating the case and wanted to wait until after the women were charged by the District Attorney's Office and arraigned in court. 
 
 They were arraigned in Monterey County Court on Tuesday and are being held at Monterey County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each, although Miller said late Friday officers were in court asking for the bail amounts to be raised. 
 
 Deanda and Craig are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 28. 
 
 Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com. 
 
 Donations 
 
 · Send donations to: Monterey County Association of Families Caring for Children, P.O. Box 2283, Salinas, CA 93902 
 
 · Clothing, toys and other new items can be dropped at the association office, Hartnell College, Bldg D, Room 120.
– Derrick Deanda saw a van on its side after a rollover crash in Elk Grove, California, broke windows to free the father and three kids trapped inside, and then ... got billed $143. "I pulled up right as it happened," Deanda recalls to CBS Sacramento of the September 2015 incident. "There was a guy standing inside the van, because it was on its side, holding a 2 year-old infant." After paramedics arrived, they briefly checked over Deanda, who had a small cut from breaking the glass, checking his pulse and giving him a bottle of water. That's why, weeks after the crash, he got a bill in the mail for a "first-responder fee." "We’re obligated to provide the same level of service, the same billing, the same everything, for every patient we encounter," explains deputy fire chief Mike McLaughlin. "I asked the paramedics for a bottle of water to clean my hand off because I had a small scrape on my hand they ask me questions and they consider that an assessment on me," Deanda wrote on Facebook, per the Daily Mail. McLaughlin says the fire department wants to "make it right" and waive the fee, but that hasn't happened yet, and Deanda plans to formally appeal. He also says the fee sends the wrong message: "Why would I want to stop to help somebody if I’m going to get a bill for $150?" The family members he helped are all OK.