Tonia Haddix to be Sentenced After Pleading Guilty to Lying About Hollywood Chimpanzee ‘Tonka’

Tonia Haddix is expected to find out her fate Wednesday (July 16) after admitting that she lied in U.S. District Court and in court filings about the purported death of “Tonka”…a Hollywood chimpanzee that was one of the subjects of a long running federal civil suit.

Haddix waived her right to indictment by a grand jury and entered her plea in March to two counts of perjury and one count of obstructing Justice.

A lawsuit was originally filed in 2016 involving allegations by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, over the care of Tonka and other primates at a facility near Festus. Since then, Tonka was transferred from a cage in Haddix’s basement to a sanctuary in Florida while Haddix has operated the Sunrise Beach Safari animal petting zoo on State Road-TT.

Each perjury charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both while the obstruction charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.