‘Chimp Crazy' Star Gets Nearly 4 Years in Prison for Lying About Ape's Death

New York Times

15 hours ago

A star of the HBO series 'Chimp Crazy' has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for lying to the authorities by saying that one of her primates, Tonka, a celebrity with Hollywood movie credits, had died to avoid giving him up, according to court documents.
Tonka's former owner, Tonia Haddix, 56, was sentenced to 46 months on Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, a coda in a protracted legal battle with the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals over several chimpanzees that were kept at the Missouri primate center that she ran.
In March, Ms. Haddix pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice in the federal case, which centered on custody of the chimpanzees — in particular, Tonka, who appeared in the movies 'George of the Jungle' and 'Buddy.'
Her bond with Tonka, which she cast as an unbreakable love between a mother and child in 'Chimp Crazy,' drew notoriety to Ms. Haddix, who in the trailer for the series said that she would be willing to do anything to protect her chimpanzees.
'They can throw me in jail for a year,' she said. 'I don't care.'
The four-episode series in 2024 had the same director as the popular Netflix production 'Tiger King' and featured the actor Alan Cumming, who shared the screen with Tonka in the 1997 film 'Buddy.'
In 2022, Mr. Cumming offered a $10,000 reward for information about Tonka's whereabouts after the chimp vanished, matching the amount put up by PETA.
The group has been waging a court fight with Ms. Haddix for nearly a decade over the treatment of several chimpanzees at a primate center in Festus, Mo., a St. Louis suburb, arguing that she was violating the Endangered Species Act — chimps are listed on it — by keeping them.
Ms. Haddix had accused PETA of defamation and had called it a militant group.
Tonka, who is 33 years old, has been living at an animal sanctuary in Florida since 2022.
When the authorities moved to seize Tonka and two other chimpanzees from her in 2021, Ms. Haddix concocted a story about how Tonka had died that May after a stroke and that she had him cremated, prosecutors said.
But according to the government, Tonka was alive, having been hidden by Ms. Haddix at a hotel and a private facility in Ohio to avoid having to give up custody of him, as a judge had ordered.
When pressed for proof of Tonka's death, she was unable to provide documentation and said that she had not requested a necropsy.
The judge had found Ms. Haddix in contempt of court and had required her to give up all of her chimpanzees, saying that she was not abiding by a 2020 legal agreement stipulating the apes' living conditions.
As part of the agreement, known as a consent decree, she had promised to build a new dome-like enclosure for the chimpanzees, a condition that PETA said that Ms. Haddix had failed to uphold.
Ms. Haddix was previously required to transfer her four other chimpanzees to a sanctuary under the decree.
During Ms. Haddix's criminal case, prosecutors said that she had consistently flouted the law, tipping off the show's producers about when federal agents were scheduled to arrive at her property.
In one episode of 'Chimp Crazy,' she said that she had attempted to run over a lawyer for PETA after a court appearance, according to a government sentencing memo.
Prosecutors said that federal law enforcement officers had found a mature female chimpanzee in the basement of Ms. Haddix's home in Sunrise Beach, Mo., during a raid in July that had led to her being arrested again. She was prohibited from owning chimpanzees.
Justin K. Gelfand, a lawyer for Ms. Haddix, said in an email on Friday that her sentence could have been twice as long.
'The sentence she received was more severe than she hoped, but not as severe as she might have otherwise faced under the circumstances,' Mr. Gelfand said.
In a sentencing memo, Mr. Gelfand wrote that Ms. Haddix had been abused by her mother and a former husband.
'It was at this point in her life that her love of animals became her vehicle for finding contentment and fulfilling relationships,' Mr. Gelfand wrote.
In a statement on Thursday, PETA applauded the sentence that was handed down to Ms. Haddix.
'How's that for a taste of your own medicine?' the group said, adding that Ms. Haddix 'can't hurt another chimpanzee' in prison.