‘The Monkey Whisperer’ Trafficked Protected Primates, Sold Monkey To Celebrity: DOJ

Updated: 11:07 a.m., Thursday

PARRISH, FL — A 57-year-old Parrish man known as “the Monkey Whisperer” pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act and the Lacey Act in connection to selling a protected primate to a celebrity client in California.

Jimmy Wayne Hammonds faces a maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison, according to a Department of Justice newsletter. A sentencing date hasn’t been set yet.

Court records show that Hammonds, owner and operator of The Monkey Whisperer, LLC, sold a capuchin monkey to singer Chris Brown, a California resident, in 2017, Billboard reported.

Since it’s illegal to keep a capuchin monkey as a pet in California, Hammonds organized the transportation of the animal to Nevada, conducting the sale there to make it look as though a resident of that state had bought the monkey, reports said.

The buyer paid more than $12,000 for the monkey, which was seized from their California home by law enforcement, the DOJ said.

Hammonds was arrested and charged after PETA told California officials that Brown illegally possessed the capuchin, the organization said in a news release.

“Exotic animals are not playthings, fashion accessories or Instagram props for celebrities, and they’re not a business venture, either,” said Michelle Sinnott, PETA Foundation’s associate director of captive animal law enforcement. “Many animal advocates alerted PETA to Chris Brown’s illegal possession of this monkey, and they helped us take down a cruel and criminal breeder.”

Hammonds also illegally sold cotton-top tamarins, which are primates listed as an endangered species, to buyers in Alabama, South Carolina and Wisconsin, the DOJ said. To conceal his unlawful wildlife trafficking, he submitted false records to a law enforcement officer and attempted to persuade a witness to lie to an officer by saying that they had purchased the cotton-top tamarins at a flea market.