Professional tribute artist to singer Toni Braxton, Trina Johnson-Finn, had been held in prison since March 1, 2009 in Suriname, South America for being wrongly accused of scamming people out of money for a concert that she was hired to do - but in reality was hired, but as a contracted talent to work/do a gig.
Who she was hired by was the real scammer, Angel Ventura, who has been captured and released weeks ago. That is all behind Trina now. She is home! Trina is back home to America!!!
As of the night of Wednesday, June 10, 2009, Trina returned from Suriname to her home in Las Vegas, Nevada!
Along with her husband, Raymond and numerous news media, were a crowd of fans, friends, family and peers (other professional tribute artists) who there waiting for her to welcome her back to the states with open arms. Trina's return will be celebrated.
This, three-plus-months ordeal, has been such a trying time for Trina and her family. Now is when she is to recoup in all ways possible - physically, mentally and emotionally.
Comments
So happy for you and yours!
We will meet one day.
Take care of yourself - you deserve it.
Great coverage as always!
Thanks, couldn't have done it without others' help - photos and updates.
Next time she is about to go on stage, she better make sure that she is announce as a stand-in and not as the real thing. She had more than one chance back there in Suriname to say that she was not Toni, but she never did! There was the press conference in which she said that she was the private secretary of Toni end that Toni would arrive the next day, so she knew exactly what was going on. She owes this all to herself, no matter what she says now.
Maria,
I wish you could have attended the trial to get the truth. There was no press conference. The so-called journalists never identified themselves as such, they never told Trina the "interview" was for a press conference, they never informed Trina they would play the "interview" on TV, nor did they receive permission from Trina to use the interview for any public use whatsoever! The journalists took a video that was supposed to played as a montage at a private party and used it to fool the Suriname public into purchasing tickets by introducing Trina as the manager of Toni B. and calling it an official press conference for thier own benefit. What's worse is that they never disclosed this to the Suriname public until it was forced out of them at the trial. Ironically, nor did they disclose to the Suriname public that they were paid by Ventura (the fraudulent concert promoter) to promote the concert and the use of this interview was one method to do so, without Trina's knowledge.
...So Trina had no opportunity to pull out of something she had no idea was false. It will be interesting to see if the Suriname press is willing to "investigate" their own, as quickly as they were willing to investigate Trina. But I do agree with you that going forward, all Celebrity Impersonators / Tribute Artists should do more to protect their own interests and not rely on the promoters to be truthful.
It's a hard lesson-learned, but one that would not have occurred if not for the deception that originated in part by certain Suriname journalists along with Ventura's actions.
Trina lost 3 months of her life, yet these journalists continue to walk around free taking no responsibility for their own actions and the Suriname press is reluctant to question there own. What is truly sad is that the Suriname Court system reviewed all the facts of the case and exposed the truth, yet even the journalists attending failed to report their colleagues transgressions, even today.
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