John Travolta Drops Extortion Case

John Travolta has dropped charges against a paramedic and an attorney accused of trying to extort $25 million from him after his son’s autism-related seizure death in Jan. 2009.

Tarino Lightbourne and Pleasant Bridgwater allegedly tried to extort the astronomical sum from the Travolta family by threatening to release privte information about the death of Jett Travolta, 16, to the public. The younger Travolta died last year after fatally striking his head during an autism-induced seizure at the family’s vacation home in the Bahamas. According to PEOPLE, Travolta signed a “Refusal of Treatment/Transportation” form after his son’s fatal seizure on Jan. 2. Bridgewater and Lightbourne reportedly threatened to tell the world of Travolta’s refusal of service, thinking it would embarrass the actor into paying millions. Instead, Travolta called their bluff and told the story himself.

“The Travolta family has said that this matter has caused them unbelievable stress and pain and they wish to put this whole thing behind them,” and then submitted a motion to drop the charges. Although a jury had already been picked and a retrial was already scheduled for both ambulance driver Tarina Lightbourne, as well as his lawyer, Pleasant Bridgewater,” Bahamas prosecutor Neil Braithwaite said in a statement Monday.

And John released a statement of his own this morning: “The long-pending status of this matter continued to take a heavy emotional toll on my family, causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us. Therefore, after much reflection I concluded that it was in my family’s best interest for me not to voluntarily return to the Bahamas to testify a second time at trial.”

And with that, the charges were dropped.

John and wife Kelly Preston are expecting their third child later this year.

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