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 even a movie.

When the Festus facility became rundown, the animal rights group PETA obtained a court order to have the chimps moved to accredited animal sanctuaries, but Haddix fought that hard, saying she would not comply. At one point, she claimed one of the chimpanzees had died. U.S. Marshals later found that chimpanzee—named Tonka—locked away in Haddix’s basement.

Haddix was arrested, charged, and pleaded guilty to her deceit. After being released on bond, Haddix was again caught hiding another chimp in her basement. That was just a couple weeks ago. It raised questions about how much prison time Haddix might get.

“Unlike the chimpanzees that she locked in her basement, Tonia Haddix is guilty,” Brittany Peet of PETA said. “She had a choice of whether she ended up locked behind bars as she is now – a choice that she denied those chimpanzees.”

Judge Stephen Clark gave her 46 months in prison.

“It’s an extraordinary case that caused any amount of obstruction of the administration of justice here in this courthouse, so we think it was an appropriate sentence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said.

The defense said Haddix’s sentence could have been much worse.

“Until the judge correctly ruled in our favor on those legal objections at the beginning of the hearing, both the prosecution and ultimately Ms. Haddix were looking at a possible advisory guideline sentence of nearly twice what she ultimately got – in particular, 78 to 97 months,” defense attorney Justin Gelfand said. “And so, a sentence of 46 months, while we believe it is more severe than what we were asking for, in some ways, candidly, is not as severe as she might have otherwise faced.”

The defense had asked for Haddix to serve one year and one day in federal prison, but Judge Clark emphasized the need for people to follow court orders if this is to remain a civilized society.

Haddix remained quiet and stone-faced as U.S. Marshals took her away.