Couple attacked by chimpanzees victimized by engine contractor

A California couple who made headlines in 2005 after they were left disfigured by two aggressive chimpanzees were later victimized by a Myanmar businessman who exploited his generous nature by stealing more than $350,000 from their accounts.

For decades, St. James and LaDonna Davis lived with Moe, a chimpanzee they raised as a son, NBC News reported.

Government officials moved Moe from their home to a nearby wildlife sanctuary, where the couple visited the chimpanzee regularly. During a visit in 2005, two other chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure and went after the Davises.

One of the primates bit off one of LaDonna’s fingers. Meanwhile, Saint James lost an eye and eight fingers, as well as parts of his nose, buttocks, lips, genitals and legs.

The Davises were never the same. Saint James underwent several operations but never regained the ability to walk.

The couple sued, and the matter was settled out of court for $4 million.

In 2017, the Davis family met a man named Min Zaw Maw, an entrepreneur working on a natural gas and propane combustion engine. Maw befriended the couple and soon told them about his financial woes.

Later, Maw was invited to stay at Davis’ house shortly before St. James to suffer a stroke and be hospitalized.

Once St. James was in the hospital, Maw began writing her hundreds of thousands in checks, and squatters began taking over the couple’s properties, NBC News reported. The great withdrawals will not be noticed until long after the death of St. James in 2018.

In April 2019, social workers discovered LaDonna in a feces-filled room full of spider wasps.

LaDonna was unable to tell social workers her age or what year it was.

The couple’s longtime friend Michael McCasland took Maw to court and alleged in court documents that the businessman was taking advantage of LaDonna and selling off the couple’s assets.

In court filings, Maw denied the allegations. In fact, he claimed he stepped in to look after the couple as their health worsened.

A settlement was reached in late 2022, awarding Maw $175,000 in cash and all vehicles purchased by LaDonna “and/or funds belonging to LaDonna currently in his possession.”

The settlement avoids the “significant expense of further litigation” and secures LaDonna’s assets, a court-appointed conservator wrote in court filings.

LaDonna, 80, now lives in a nursing facility, according to the report.

Authorities are not actively pursuing allegations of elder abuse against Maw, NBC News said.