NASSAU – A Bahamas senator has been charged in connection with a plot to extort money from Hollywood star John Travolta after the death of the actor’s son, police said.
The female lawmaker, Pleasant Bridgewater, was charged on Friday with two counts of abatement to extort and conspiracy to extort, then released on US$40 000 bail, authorities said.
Bridgwater is expected to be arraigned early this week in the capital, New Providence, officials said.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Marvin Dames earlier said that Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston filed a complaint after they were approached by someone claiming to have photographs of their 16-year-old son Jett, who died on January 2 at the family’s vacation house in Grand Bahama.
Police also said that a paramedic named Tarino Lightbourne, wanted in connection with the case, is under arrest and is helping officers in their investigation. Lightbourne turned himself in after authorities publicly named him as a suspect, they said.
Police on Friday also briefly detained Obediah Wilchcombe, a member of parliament and former tourism minister, but said they released him pending further investigation.
Bahamas officials who conducted an autopsy on Jett Travolta said the teen died of a seizure and that his body showed no signs of head trauma.
The autopsy results appeared to contradict statements from the boy’s family and island police that he had hit his head in the bathroom.
Jett was the only son of 54-year-old film star Travolta and Preston (46). The couple also has an eight-year-old daughter, Ella.
Jett was last seen on New Year’s Day when he went to use the bathroom at the family’s residence at the Old Bahama Bay Resort on Grand Bahama island. He was found around 10:00 am the next morning unconscious in the bathroom.
Jett Travolta had had a history of seizures since he was a toddler. But his father denied reports that his son was autistic, saying that at age two, Jett had Kawasaki Syndrome, a condition that can lead to heart disease. – Nampa-AFP
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