ST. LOUIS – Judge Stephen Clark sentenced chimpanzee handler Tonia Haddix to more than what advisory guidelines recommended, as he told Haddix directly that it’s as if she’s been wearing virtual reality goggles and needs to remove them.

Tonia Haddix claimed to be saving chimpanzees, until prosecutors charged her with crimes. Then Haddix herself admitted to breaking the law when she pleaded guilty in March to perjury and obstruction of justice.

Her guilty plea came after years of defiance, in which Haddix repeatedly told FOX 2 News that she would not surrender the chimpanzees, which she kept at a compound outside of Festus, Missouri.

Those chimps were once part of a business called Chimparty, in which they were used for everything from children’s birthday parties to greeting cards and ev

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