Chimp Crazy Villain Tonia Haddix Sentenced to Nearly 4 Years in Prison for Perjury, Obstruction of Justice: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
August 7, 2025

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Thanks to PETA, Tonia Haddix—villain of the Emmy-nominated HBO series Chimp Crazy—was sentenced today to 46 months in prison in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis after pleading guilty to two felony counts of perjury and one felony count of obstructing justice. Haddix was also sentenced to 3 years supervised release.

As revealed in the series, Haddix knowingly lied to a federal judge about the whereabouts of Tonka the chimpanzee—telling the judge that Tonka had died when in reality she was hiding him in a cage in her basement—and disobeyed a court order to surrender him to PETA. Following the show’s release, PETA submitted a motion to the court detailing the numerous additional pieces of evidence of perjury and violations of court orders shown in Chimp Crazy, which ultimately led to today’s sentencing. U.S. Marshals and PETA freed Tonka and he now spends his days at a beautiful sanctuary, where he has since reunited with his biological son, Cayleb, and enjoys being outdoors, foraging for food, and playing with his friends—all things he was previously denied.

Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet, who was in the courtroom at her sentencing:

Now that Tonia Haddix is locked up, she’s getting a taste of the suffering she inflicted on animals by imprisoning them in cages and denying them any semblance of a natural life. PETA is relieved to see justice done and urges everyone to support the Captive Primate Safety Act, which will keep vulnerable monkeys and apes out of the pet trade and the hands of ruthless dealers like Haddix.

Haddix and her husband Jerry Aswegan are due back in state court on August 12 for ignoring orders to hand over financial records and other related documents to PETA. Last month, authorities announced that they had discovered another chimpanzee concealed in the same basement cell where Haddix had imprisoned Tonka, which violated the terms of her consent agreement with PETA prohibiting her from ever again owning or possessing a chimpanzee. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated her federal license, banning her from legally selling primates or operating her roadside zoo in Sunrise Beach. The case is now in appeals.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.