Three years after Tonia Haddix was caught faking the death of her beloved chimpanzee Tonka in a wacky, short-sighted bid to stop the ape from being taken away to a sanctuary, officials raided her Missouri home again to discover the exotic animal broker was secretly stowing another adult chimpanzee in her basement. 

It’s the latest plot twist in Haddix’s bitter, years-long fight against PETA, which has now landed her in jail. Officials arrested the 55-year-old on Saturday after a Missouri judge held her in contempt of court for dodging court orders regarding $224,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs owed to PETA.

Coincidentally, the discovery of an unregistered “mature female chimpanzee” hidden in Haddix’s house had no connection to Haddix’s arrest. However, Eastern District of Missouri prosecutors are attempting to use the information as ammo to keep Haddix in custody until her sentencing on August 7. 

In April, officials were suspicious Haddix may have acquired a chimpanzee when pretrial service officers made an unannounced visit to Haddix’s home. After Haddix’s husband delayed them from entering the house, according to court records obtained by Rolling Stone, he later told officers that Haddix was downstairs “feeding monkeys.” (As an exotic animal broker, Haddix often houses a range of animals, including smaller monkeys.) 

The officers eventually went to the basement and observed that the large cage was empty, but saw what they “believed to be fresh dung, as well as flies throughout,” according to a court-submitted affidavit. “They also observed blankets, an empty Gatorade bottle, and a half-eaten sucker within the cage. Based upon these facts and my experience, I believe that Defendant took steps to move and conceal the mature female chimpanzee from the Pretrial Services Officers during that home visit.” 

After obtaining a search warrant on July 7, officials executed a surprise search on Haddix’s home two days later, where they found the chimpanzee living in the basement enclosure. The ape was safely removed from the house, according to PETA.

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Unlike with Tonka — who starred in the movies George of the Jungle and Buddy, and was discovered alive in June 2022 — Haddix seemed to keep a tighter lid on her new chimpanzee. Her friend and former podcast partner, Amber Renée Fawn Cunningham, claims to Rolling Stone that she had no idea Haddix had acquired the new pet. 

“I feel she kept it very private this time because of what happened in the documentary and her other friend telling her psychic,” Cunningham says. “But a month or so ago [we had] a strange conversation — she was planning on being a live streamer on TikTok or something. She wanted to start a new project … It seemed like she had some new things going on personally, but she didn’t want to talk about it.”

Rolling Stone has reached out to Haddix’s last known attorney for comment. Attempts to reach Haddix’s husband ,Jerry Aswegan, who a judge also ordered to be arrested, were not successful.

“Tonia Haddix has again defied court orders and locked a highly social chimpanzee in a tiny basement cage, without the companionship of other chimpanzees, appropriate care, or even the ability to feel sunlight on her skin,” PETA Foundation General Counsel Brittany Peet said in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “This person clearly won’t stop hurting animals unless and until she’s facing a long stay behind bars herself, and PETA is calling for the court to issue her the harshest possible sentence.”

Haddix became a minor celebrity last year following the release of HBO’s four-episode docuseries, Chimp Crazy. Cameras followed the eccentric but likable firecracker as she went up against PETA, which roped her into a lawsuit over the operation of a controversial chimpanzee facility in 2018. After Haddix failed to make improvements to the roach-infested, feces-covered space, a judge ordered Haddix to turn over seven chimpanzees in her care to a Florida animal sanctuary in June 2021. 

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But Haddix couldn’t bear to part with Tonka, her favorite chimp. When PETA arrived to transport the animals to the sanctuary, Haddix claimed Tonka had died of heart failure. When asked for Tonka’s remains as proof of his death, Haddix claimed they had cremated him. Convinced Haddix was lying, PETA teamed up with Tonka’s former Buddy co-star Alan Cumming to offer $20,000 in reward money to anyone who could help prove Tonka was alive. 

For more than a year, Haddix kept the lie going. “It was hard for me,” she previously told Rolling Stone. “I think that’s probably my downfall, because I’m not a good liar. If [someone I knew] asked me the question [about Tonka], I would tip my eyes. I mean, come on, everybody knew.”

Everything came crashing down for Haddix when Tonka was discovered alive in June 2022. The documentary crew following her was secretly backed by Tiger King’s Eric Goode and had turned her in to PETA. 

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It all played out in Chimp Crazy, which PETA then used to urge the court to pursue perjury charges against Haddix. In March, Haddix pleaded guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors have pointed to a pre-sentence investigation report that recommended a sentence of up to five years imprisonment. “As Sir Walter Scott first penned, ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive,’” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith wrote in a Wednesday letter to the court. “That well-worn phrase perhaps best sums up where we find ourselves in considering an appropriate sentence for Defendant Haddix.”