ST. LOUIS — The way federal Judge Stephen Clark saw it, Tonia Haddix had been living in an alternate reality.
For the past several years, the 56-year-old former caretaker of a movie star chimpanzee largely did whatever she pleased, Clark said: She lied to judges. She refused to pay fines. She starred in an HBO documentary series called "Chimp Crazy." And she kept owning chimps when she was not supposed to.
On Thursday in a federal courtroom in downtown St. Louis, Clark said he hoped Haddix would shed the proverbial virtual reality goggles she had been wearing.
"It is not OK to defy a court's order," the judge told her. "It is not OK to commit perjury and lie under oath."
Haddix, 56, sat silently at a courtroom table, wearing bright pink lipstick and thick mascara, her signature blonde