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The ambulance driver who took JOHN TRAVOLTA’s late son to hospital following his fatal seizure has been formally charged for his part in an alleged plot to extort money from the movie star.
The Bahamas’ Minister of National Security, Tommy Turnquest, has confirmed Tarino Lightbourne was charged with conspiracy to extort on Monday (26Jan09).
Jett Travolta, 16, succumbed to a seizure disorder while the Travolta family were vacationing in the Bahamas on 2 January (09).
Lightbourne was arrested on Friday (23Jan09), one day after former Senator Pleasant Bridgewater was detained for her alleged involvement in the plot.
Bridgewater resigned from her post following the arrest and has been released on $40,000 (£28,985) bail.
Their arrests follow reports the pair worked together to take a photograph of the Pulp Fiction star’s son as he lay dying in an alleged $25 million (£18.1 million) extortion scheme.
Details of the reported extortion plot have not been made public, although reports on TMZ.com suggest the alleged plot does not involve photographs.
The Bahamas former Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe, a close friend of the Travoltas, was also questioned by police on Friday.
But Turnquest tells the website Wilchcombe "has not been charged", adding, "He was not arrested; he was questioned on Friday."

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A new movie set to star SETH ROGEN as comic book hero THE GREEN HORNET is heading for the scrap heap, according to Hollywood gossip.
After years of development and numerous names touted to direct and star in the project, the new incarnation of the Green Hornet was unveiled last year (08), with Rogen attached as lead actor and Stephen Chow signed to direct and star as sidekick Kato.
Rogen embarked on a rigorous diet to prepare for his role as the superhero, and shooting was due to begin in 2009. But the movie ran into turmoil in December (08) when Chow resigned from his role as director.
Plans are on hold as producers search for a new director - and now Tinseltown insiders claim the film could be cancelled altogether, according to various sources, including MTV and Hitfix.com.

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British actress SAMANTHA MORTON has vowed to boycott the BBC if network bosses refuse to broadcast an emergency appeal calling for help in the Gaza Strip.
The Golden Globe winner is among a number of U.K. celebrities to voice their disdain at the BBC’s decision not to air the advertisement for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).
Over a million residents of the region have been caught up in the recent Israeli attacks on the Palestinian-held Gaza strip.
And Morton, who starred in BBC drama Longford, admits she is "embarrassed" to be associated with a corporation that would make such a "disgusting" decision.
She says, "I’m shocked and appalled. I’ve worked for the BBC since I was a small child. As a public service they’ve got it very wrong. I’m not as articulate about this as I would like to be because I’m so appalled.
"I will never work for the BBC again unless they change their mind. It’s very, very wrong. It’s not a political message. It’s about raising money for children who are dying.
"I’m proud to have worked for the BBC; I’m proud to be British; I’m proud we even have the BBC.
"But I need them to explain this decision. I reserve the right never to work for that company again if I feel that I’m too embarrassed to support them or earn money from them."

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Director ANTOINE FUQUA was determined to cast troubled actor WESLEY SNIPES in his forthcoming movie BROOKLYN’S FINEST - because he insists the NEW JACK CITY star deserves as many chances as former drug addict ROBERT DOWNEY JR. had.
The black Training Day filmmaker cast Snipes alongside Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Richard Gere in the gritty new cop film.
Fuqua was adamant he kept Snipes on board the project, even when he went on trial for tax evasion last year (08) - maintaining that all stars, regardless of their race, should get the same treatment as Iron Man star Downey Jr., who resurrected his Hollywood career after battling numerous legal and drug issues between 1996 and 2001.
The director tells Vibe magazine, "Robert Downey Jr. got how many chances? (Snipes) is a really talented cat that has gotten s**tted (sic) on. I just feel like when it comes to us, there’s a different standard." Snipes was subsequently found guilty of failing to file taxes for five years and was sentenced to three years behind bars - a ruling he is currently appealing.

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Rocker SLASH was forced to give up his huge collection of snakes when his wife PERLA became pregnant with their first child.
The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist amassed a vast menagerie of the reptiles that dominated his California home.
But he concedes it wasn’t the safest environment to raise a child.
He tells Blender magazine, "I got rid of all my snakes when Perla was in her last trimester - it’s just trouble waiting to happen, with a little boy. But when I was a bachelor, the whole house was just snake cages. All my snakes were 10 to 20 feet long, and I had about 80 of them." Slash and Perla Ferrer have two sons, London, six and Cash, four.

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The life story of late TLC rapper LISA ‘LEFT EYE’ LOPES is coming to the big screen in a new biopic by director LAUREN LAZIN.
The No Scrubs star died in a tragic car crash in Honduras in 2002, but seven years on, she is to be brought back to life in a new film by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker. the woman behind the Tupac Shakur movie Tupac Resurrection.
The Last Days of Left Eye will debut at the Atlanta Film Festival in Georgia on 19 April (09).

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Pop singer PINK hasn’t let her failed marriage to ex CAREY HART put her off walking down the aisle again - insisting she "doesn’t regret a minute" of their newly-reconciled relationship.
The star - real name Alecia Moore - rekindled her romance with the motocross racer earlier this month (Jan09) amid reports Hart had moved back in with the singer after nearly a year apart.
But Pink admits she could still be swayed to walk down the aisle in the future.
She tells Seventeen magazine, "I don’t know if I ever really believed in the institution of marriage. For both of us, our upbringings made us that way. He had a tough childhood, and I had World War III in my household.
"Our idea of marriage was never really a fairy tale. It was more like, ‘We really like each other - we should just try, see what happens.’ "I don’t regret a minute of it. I’ll do it again. I’ll do it a thousand more times, even though I don’t really think marriage is necessary." And the singer credits her new album, Funhouse, with helping her and Hart reconnect, adding: "I never said this really sweet, vulnerable stuff. I think writing this album the way I did has been really good for me, for him, for us, and for our friendship." The couple parted ways last February (08) after two years of marriage.

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Former FUGEES star WYCLEF JEAN has fired back at reports alleging his Miami, Florida home has been hit by foreclosure - blaming a contractor who "sat on the job for two years" for the mix-up.
Jean bought the Miami Beach mansion in 2004, reportedly taking out a $2 million (£1.5 million) mortgage through a corporation he owns with several friends.
But a string of legal problems ensued with the construction of the unfinished property, with Jean’s corporation reportedly owing the bank more than $2.4 million (£1.7 million) when renovations floundered, sparking the reports last November (08).
According to TMZ.com, Jean says he was "robbed" by contractors he commissioned for the $900,000 (£650,900) project.
The singer’s home was scheduled for auction on 12 December (08), but reportedly settled loans with the bank in time, avoiding having his home sold off.
Jean now intends to resell the Miami-Dade county property.

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LITTLE BROTHER rapper PHONTE has launched a scathing attack on KANYE WEST, criticising the hip-hop superstar for copying T-PAIN’s singing style.
The Stronger hitmaker’s latest album, 808s & Heartbreak, features West singing throughout the record, mostly using the electronically enhanced voice program Auto-Tune - which was made popular again by T-Pain in 2008.
West’s singing attempts have won over most critics, but Phonte is not one of them, branding the rapper a "coward" for failing to show off his voice naturally.
Phonte tells Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, "I’ve heard… pretty much… most of the Kanye West album, and I didn’t like it. I was just like ‘Get the f**k outta here’.
"I personally did not like the album… I honestly thought it was an act of cowardice. I just think that if you’re gonna make the creative leaps to sing, then really sing. Let your voice come out, and let people hear all the idiosyncrasies in your voice because that’s what makes you uniquely you.
"I heard (808s & Heartbreak) and was like ‘Ok, this n**ga is just biting T-Pain’."

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Director [TERRY GILLIAM] is angry with HEATH LEDGER for dying so young, insisting the Australian was the best actor of his generation.
Ledger was half way shooting a role in Gilliam’s latest project, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, when he died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs at his New York apartment on 22 January 2008.
And Gilliam insists the acting world has lost its greatest talent.
He tells the New York Post, "In terms of his acting, it still rankles with me that he’s dead because he would have been streets ahead of anyone else in his generation. He just kept getting better and better.
"He was fearless. On Parnassus, he was improvising all the time, and it was better than what we had written.
"In a sense, I felt Heath was writing this film."

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JANET JACKSON has been forced to postpone plans to tour Japan - blaming the current downturn in the global economy.
The Nasty hitmaker was due to play five shows in the country in February (09), including gigs in Osaka and Nagoya, but now the concerts have been put on hold, according to Japanese promoter Kyodo Yokohama.
The cancellations are the latest live dates Jackson has pulled out of - a string of shows in Jackson’s first world tour in almost seven years had to be rescheduled in late 2008 after the star suffered from a bout of vertigo. Further dates were also cancelled reportedly as a result of low ticket sales.
New Japan dates are expected to be announced in March (09).

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MEGAN FOX is lined up for an action-packed new role - she is slated to take over from ANGELINA JOLIE as gun-toting movie tough girl LARA CROFT.
Reports suggest the Transformers beauty will replace Jolie in the next film in the Tomb Raider franchise.
London’s Metro newspaper claims insiders are tipping Fox as a "strong candidate" for the role of the sexy action heroine Jolie played the part in 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and in the sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003.
Both films were panned by critics, and Jolie was given a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her performances in the two movies.

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Actress VIOLA DAVIS was determined not to let OPRAH WINFREY intimidate her run for her Oscar-nominated role in DOUBT - insisting she would’ve battled it out with the TV queen who lobbied for the part.
The 43-year-old star, who plays a desperate mum in the film, didn’t know she was facing competition from Winfrey, who was turned down by director John Patrick Shanley in favour of the actress.
Davis was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar on Thursday (22Jan09), and she insists Winfrey’s desperation wouldn’t have swayed her from the film.
She tells the New York Post’s Page Six magazine, "No way! I would have taken off my shoes and fought Oprah for the part." But Winfrey has no hurt feelings, praising Davis’ performance as "brilliant" when the actress appeared on her talk show last Friday (23Jan09).

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ROLLING STONES rocker KEITH RICHARDS is the subject of two new rival books - both inspired by the star’s reputation as one of music’s most notorious hellraisers.
Writer Jessica Pallington West has gathered some of the guitarist’s most famous quotes for a book called What Would Keith Richards Do? It will hit stores in May (09), the same month as Mark Blake’s Stone Me; the title a witty take on Richards famous love of marijuana.
Among the famous Richards quotes in Blake’s book is the star’s boast, "I’ve never turned blue in someone’s bathroom. I consider that the height of bad manners."

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Hungarian ballerina NORA KOVACH has died, aged 77.
Kovach passed away on Sunday (18Jan09) in Miami, Florida after battling an undisclosed short illness. She rose to fame as a dance defector with her partner and first husband, Istvan Rabovsky, in the 1950s.
By the age of 21, Kovach and Rabovsky, 23, were leading dancers in the Budapest State Opera Ballet, which sent them to tour in East Berlin in 1953.
The pair paved the way for Soviet-trained dancers in America, fleeing to West Berlin from the Soviet bloc, during an escalating Cold War. They later appeared in London with Festival Ballet and on returned to amaze American audiences with numerous appearances on Ed Sullivan’s TV show Toast of the Town.
After appearing with major companies in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Japan, Kovach and Rabovsky, who later divorced, danced with their own small troupe in the early 1960s, called Bihari.
Kovach opened her own ballet school in Long Island, New York in 1969.
She is survived by her third husband, Steve Farago, a brother, Bela Kovach, and two stepchildren, Andrew Farago and Babette Savallo.

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Actress EMILY MORTIMER never got the chance to fulfil her late father SIR JOHN MORTIMER’s wish of starring in one of his plays.
Author Mortimer passed away at his home in Turville Heath, near Oxford, England, earlier this month (16Jan09).
He had dreamed of writing a play for his Match Point star daughter - who is based in the U.S. - but was unable to fulfil his ambition.
A source tells British newspaper the Daily Express, "John was very proud of Emily and had talked of writing something she could star in. Unfortunately, he ran out of time and it was one of those things that didn’t happen. It certainly wasn’t out of a lack of willingness on either of their parts as they would have adored working with one another."

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American model and actor JIM HORNE has died at the age of 91.
Horne, arguably the most widely-seen male model in his time, died on 29 December (08) after losing his battle with cancer, his Francesca Marlowe Horne said; he also suffered from congestive heart failure.
Horne became a familiar face in the 1940s, appearing in ads for Macy’s department store, Lucky Strike and Marlboro cigarettes, Burberry, Chrysler, Budweiser and Grand Marnier, among others throughout his modelling career.
In 1957, Horne made history with men’s magazine GQ - appearing on its debut issue, formerly called Apparel Arts magazine.
As an actor, Horne appeared in mostly small roles in films including Gunga Din and A Place in the Sun.
He later served in Europe in World War II, where his position as a combat photographer earned him two Bronze Stars.
In the 1960s, Horne became a sales manager and spokesman for an apparel company, and later established himself as a businessman with his own company, manufacturing leather belts.
He is survived by his wife, who disclosed no further details surrounding his death.

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A stage manager on BROOKE SHIELDS’ U.S. TV series LIPSTICK JUNGLE has been charged with stealing nearly $30,000 (£22,010) in designer goods from the show’s set.
Arthur Moreira, 27, was arrested on Friday (23Jan09) after officers purchased missing set items online in a sting operation, according to New York’s Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
Among 16 items stolen include an Oscar de la Renta snakeskin bag, Gucci coats and designs by French fashion house Sylvia Toledano, whose employees alerted police after finding limited items by the designer for sale on eBay.com.
Moreira is being held by authorities in Brooklyn pending arraignment.

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