A Missouri woman who starred in the HBO documentary series "Chimp Crazy" has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after she lied that a movie star primate that she was accused of mistreating had died.

Tonia Haddix, 56, was also ordered Thursday to serve three years of supervised release after her 46-month prison sentence ends.

Haddix, who ran a primate facility in the St. Louis suburb of Festus, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of perjury and one count of obstructing justice.

It all started nearly a decade ago, when the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued, saying she was keeping several chimps "confined in cramped, virtually barren enclosures" at the now-defunct Missouri Primate Foundation facility.

Among the chimps was Tonka, who appeared in the 1997 movies

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