“Wayne Newton is being sued by a Las Vegas woman over an alleged pet monkey attack during a mansion visit” is likely one of the most Las Vegas-esque sentences we’ll ever have to write. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jocelyne Urena is seeking a minimum of $15,000 in damages after the veteran performers’s pet monkey allegedly bit and injured her daughter, Genevieve, sans provocation during a tour that took place October 2017. The complaint was filed with the Navada state court on Wednesday. Neither Genevieve’s age at the time of the attack nor the extent of her injuries were outlined, though reports state that she was 15 years old when the encounter took place.
Newton’s former estate, Casa de Shenandoah, was sold in 2010 to investors and turned into a tourist attraction and museum that features gardens, stables for Newton’s horses, and a number of exotic animals. Urena and Genevieve visited the mansion by invitation.
Newton’s wife, Kathleen McCone Newton, responded to the lawsuit with a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which states that the family severed business ties with the company running the tour and museum in July 2017, three months prior to the alleged attack.: “[W]e are not party and have no idea what happened in Oct. 2017… John Munson and his company took over July 1, 2017.”