Tonia Haddix: Tonka, 46-Month Sentence, and PETA Judgment

Tonia Haddix is a Missouri exotic-animal broker and former nurse who was sentenced in August 2025 to 46 months in federal prison for lying under oath about the death of Tonka, a chimpanzee she had actually hidden in the basement of her home near the Lake of the Ozarks. She pleaded guilty in March 2025 to two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, and became widely known through the HBO docuseries Chimp Crazy, which followed her through the years she spent defying the federal court order to surrender him.¹

How She Ended Up With Tonka

Haddix, a former registered nurse, moved into work with exotic animals and began assisting Connie Casey at the Missouri Primate Foundation in Festus in 2016. She eventually lived in a trailer on the property, caring for seven chimpanzees.² The facility, once known as “Chimparty,” had supplied chimps for movies, commercials, and parties. Tonka was among the residents; he had appeared in the 1997 films George of the Jungle and Buddy.³

PETA had sued the foundation and Casey in December 2016 in the Eastern District of Missouri, alleging Endangered Species Act violations based on the animals’ living conditions.⁴ Casey transferred ownership of the chimpanzees to Haddix in late 2018, and Haddix was joined as a defendant.⁵ A consent decree entered by Judge Catherine D. Perry in October 2020 required Haddix to send four chimpanzees to the Center for Great Apes in Florida and let her keep three, including Tonka, only if she built a compliant facility within six months. She didn’t, and on July 14, 2021, the court ordered all seven transferred.¹

The Fake Death and the Basement Cage

When officials came to collect the chimpanzees on July 28, 2021, only six were there. Haddix had already moved Tonka. He went first to a location in Ohio and then into a cage in the basement of her home in Camden County, Missouri.¹

To account for his absence, she told the court he was dead. In a sworn declaration on August 16, 2021, she said Tonka had died on May 30, 2021, and that her husband had cremated the body. She repeated the claim in a December 27, 2021 motion to dismiss. On January 5, 2022, testifying under oath at a contempt hearing, she said she had opened Tonka’s cage and found him dead: “There was no saving him.”⁶ None of it was true. Tonka was alive in her basement the entire time.

How the Lies Unraveled

The story broke open through the documentary being made about her. Director Eric Goode, who had previously made Netflix’s Tiger King, worked through a proxy director, Dwayne Cunningham, so Haddix wouldn’t know he was involved. Cunningham filmed her for more than a year while she hid Tonka and lied to the courts.⁷

In May 2022, Haddix told Cunningham she planned to euthanize Tonka rather than surrender him. Goode alerted PETA. PETA filed an emergency motion on June 1, 2022; the court ordered cooperation the next day; and Deputy U.S. Marshals removed Tonka from Haddix’s basement on June 8, 2022.¹ He was taken to the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he now lives on a three-acre island habitat with a group of 17 chimpanzees.⁸

Chimp Crazy premiered on HBO on August 18, 2024, as a four-part series, and became the network’s most-watched docuseries since 2020.⁹¹⁰

The Federal Charges and 46-Month Sentence

On March 31, 2025, Haddix waived indictment and pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of Missouri to two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Each perjury count carried up to five years and a $250,000 fine; the obstruction count carried up to ten years and a $250,000 fine.⁶¹¹

On August 7, 2025, U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark sentenced her to 46 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. In place of a separate fine, she was ordered to pay PETA’s fee award.¹

Prosecutors argued Haddix had not merely defied the court but publicly enjoyed doing so. In a sentencing memorandum, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith wrote that she “challenged the Court’s authority,” stated openly that she intended to disobey court orders, and “voiced various implied threats aimed at any law enforcement officers who might approach her business.” The government also pointed to income she earned from her notoriety: a podcast called The Chimp Crazy Lady Show, an Etsy store selling merchandise featuring herself and Tonka, a Cameo profile at $100 per video, and other media appearances. U.S. Attorney Thomas C. Albus said at sentencing, “Justice is impossible if participants in the judicial system lie.”¹

A Second Chimpanzee in the Basement

Two weeks after her guilty plea, Haddix acquired another chimpanzee. During a court-ordered search of her Camden County home on July 9, 2025, federal agents found a mature female chimpanzee in the same basement cage that had once held Tonka. Court records indicated she had possessed the animal since at least April 2025, and it was not registered with the state as required.¹²

She had also failed to report the search to her pretrial services officer. She was arrested on July 19, 2025, admitted the bond violations in court five days later, and Judge Clark ordered her held in jail until sentencing. The female chimpanzee was removed and reported to be safe; her name and new location have not been made public.¹³

USDA License and the PETA Judgment

The criminal case was not the only proceeding against her. On March 13, 2025, USDA Administrative Law Judge Tierney Carlos granted summary judgment revoking Haddix’s Animal Welfare Act license, finding her “unfit to be licensed” because she had “disqualified herself by presenting false testimony.” Her Class B dealer license was terminated and she was barred from reapplying for at least two years, which effectively shut down her roadside zoo, Sunrise Beach Safari.¹⁴ She has said she intends to appeal.¹⁵

On the civil side, Judge Perry ordered Haddix to reimburse PETA $224,404 in legal fees and expenses from the underlying case.¹⁶ PETA has been pursuing collection against Haddix and her husband, Gerald Aswegan, and in July 2025 a Missouri state court held four companies associated with the couple in contempt for ignoring orders to produce financial records.¹⁷

The Appeal and Where She Is Now

Haddix filed a notice of appeal on August 20, 2025. Her attorney, Justin Gelfand, submitted arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in January 2026, calling the 46-month sentence “procedurally unreasonable” and arguing the court lacked sufficient evidence to exceed federal sentencing guidelines in what the defense describes as an “emotionally driven, non-violent, first-offender case.”¹⁸ PETA has filed a brief opposing any reduction.¹⁷ As of early 2026, Haddix remains in federal prison with the appeal pending and the appellee brief due in February 2026.¹⁹

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Tonia Haddix Sentenced for Lying Repeatedly in Court About Death of Tonka Chimpanzee
2
People. Who Is Tonia Haddix
3
Vanity Fair. The Strange Story of Tonka, the Undead Hollywood Chimpanzee
4
My Leader Paper. Festus-Area Facility to Give Up Chimps After Settlement With PETA
5
GovInfo. PETA v. Missouri Primate Foundation, 4:16-cv-02163
6
KSDK. Chimp Crazy Documentary: Tonia Haddix Admits to Lying About Tonka the Chimp Dying
7
Los Angeles Times. Chimp Crazy: HBO, Eric Goode, Tonka, Tonia Haddix, Dwayne Cunningham
8
Save the Chimps. Tonka
9
Warner Bros. Discovery. Chimp Crazy
10
Hollywood Reporter. Chimp Crazy Director Interview
11
PACER Monitor. USA v. Haddix, 4:25-cr-00155
12
KCUR. Chimp Crazy: Tonia Haddix Secret Chimpanzee, Jail
13
St. Louis Public Radio. Chimp Crazy: Tonia Haddix Allegedly Violates Bond With Secret Chimp
14
USDA APHIS. In Re: Tonia Haddix, AWA-D Docket No. 24-J-0071
15
KRCG TV. Future of Sunrise Beach Safari in Question as USDA Revokes Owner’s License
16
St. Louis Public Radio. Missouri Woman Loses License to Run Roadside Zoo After Hiding a Chimp in Her Basement
17
PETA. Tonia Haddix Sentenced
18
My Leader Paper. Tonia Haddix of Chimp Crazy Seeks Reduced Prison Sentence
19
St. Louis Public Radio. Chimp Crazy Star Tonia Haddix Appeals Her Nearly 4-Year Sentence in Tonka Case