CLAYTON — A ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County judge ordered the former caretakers of a movie star chimpanzee to be arrested Tuesday after they failed to show up for court this week.
Tonia Haddix, who ran a Jefferson County primate facility and was featured in an HBO documentary called “Chimp Crazy,†was held in contempt of court alongside her husband, Jerry Aswegan, after they failed for a year and a half to turn over financial documents in a legal dispute with animal welfare advocates.
The arrest order marks the latest update in a yearslong legal saga between the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Haddix over her chimpanzees, including the movie star chimp Tonka.
Haddix earlier this year pleaded guilty to three felonies for falsely telling a federal judge that Tonka was dead in order to hide his whereabouts.
“Jerry Aswegan stood by as Tonia Haddix brazenly lied to officials that Tonka the chimpanzee was dead, all so she could keep him prisoner in her basement,†said Brittany Peet, a lawyer for PETA.
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Haddix’s criminal lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The legal saga dates back to 2017 when PETA sued Haddix, claiming she kept several chimpanzees, including Tonka — who appeared in the 1997 movies “Buddy†and “George of the Jungle†— in inadequate conditions.
Tonka the chimpanzee was removed June 5, 2022, from a basement cage in the home of Tonia Haddix of Sunrise Beach, Mo.
Haddix agreed to improve conditions at her now-defunct Missouri Primate Foundation and send some of the chimps to a sanctuary in Florida. But she failed to comply with that agreement, and the remaining chimps were removed from her facility in 2021.
Tonka, however, wasn’t there.
Aswegan claimed that Tonka had died and signed an affidavit that he’d cremated the body. But PETA later found Tonka in the basement of Haddix’s home in Sunrise Beach, Missouri, near Lake of the Ozarks.
Then, last year, in the HBO documentary, Haddix was shown lying to a judge about Tonka’s whereabouts. PETA filed to hold her in contempt of court. A judge referred the accusations to prosecutors, and Haddix pleaded guilty.
Meanwhile, a judge in 2023 ordered Haddix to pay about $225,000 in attorney’s fees to PETA in its lawsuit.
But she hasn’t paid.
PETA asked a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County judge last year to force her to pay up by seizing property and assets from her companies. Haddix never responded, so a judge ruled in PETA’s favor.
Haddix and her husband, who is also involved with her companies, still didn’t turn over required financial documents in the case despite repeated orders from the court, court filings say.
Judge Brian May then ordered Haddix and Aswegan to show up to a hearing Monday and provide a reason for why they didn’t provide the documentation.
Neither showed up, court records say.
On Tuesday, May ordered Haddix and Aswegan to pay a $100 fine each day and be jailed until they resolve the contempt order. They are also liable for all of PETA’s attorneys fees and costs in pursuing the case, court records say.
The next hearing in that case is set for Aug. 5. Haddix is set to be sentenced in her criminal case Aug. 7.
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