A Bahamas paramedic who was the first to arrive on the scene to treat Jett Travolta on Jan. 2 has been formally charged in the alleged plot to extort money from John Travolta. Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and attorney Pleasant Bridgewater, are accused of attempting to extort $25 million from Travolta. Bridgewater was released on $40,000 bail on Friday; a third person, Obie Wilchombe, a former member of Parliament and ‘friend’ of Travolta’s was questioned but then released. Lightbourne is being held without bail.
Police have confirmed the alleged plot to extort money from the Travoltas included a request for $25 million so that a supposedly “damaging” document would not be made public.
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames told the Nassau Guardian:
“All I can say here is that, you know, there was a complaint made by Mr. Travolta — and those acting on his behalf — that there was an attempt on behalf of a number of individuals to extort initially some $25 million from the Travoltas. Acting on that complaint we initiated the investigation and it has brought us to this particular point.”
There still is a lot of speculation as to what the alleged extortionists claimed they had in their attempt to bag the huge sum of money from the Travoltas. Some have suggested those involved had pictures of Jett in the moments before and after he died. Dames said this is “incorrect.”
He said the complaint, filed last week, alleges the conspirators approached the Travoltas with a document, that if released, would be damaging to the them. Dames said police have a copy of a document, but they haven’t been able to prove it’s authenticity yet. He did say, however, that the document is a “refusal to transport” document.
A “refusal to transport” is signed by a party when refusing emergency medical services from trained personnel. Signing the document absolves the hospital of liability regarding an incident. Hmmm. Very interesting. Would the Travoltas sign a refusal to transport Jett to the hospital? Were they buying time for some reason?
Bridgewater, Wilchcombe and Lightbourne are all claiming innocence.
“January 23 is a day that will live in my memory as a nightmare,” said Bridgewater in a written statement. “In my capacity as a lawyer, I acted within the bounds of the law and within the bounds of my ethical responsibility to my profession. How these innocent actions can be so misconstrued, so perversely twisted to mean something other than it was, is a mystery. I assure the Bahamian people of my complete and total innocence and I am satisfied that when the full story comes out that I shall be fully vindicated.”
And after his release on Friday, Wilchcombe told The Guardian:
“I was the one who alerted everyone about it, which led to where we are today. I was asked questions and detained for two-and-a-half hours and I was just there giving evidence and answering questions. They questioned me about the initial phone call I would have made to alert the Travolta family of the circumstances of the situation. That was the basis of their discussions with me, but of course it’s an ongoing investigation and there’s not much I can say about it.”
Here we go again with another Bahamian-based celebrity death circus…Anna Nicole Smith 2.0. We’ll see what kind of final “story” comes out in this tragedy.
Fourty-four-year-old rapper/songwriter passed away yesterday. He apparently had trouble walking up some stairs, became short of breath and collapsed after returning to his Beverly Hills home. Neighbor Adam Mills found him leaning against a railing, having trouble breathing. Adam told TMZ that he cradled Heavy D in his lap as others called 911.