SPOKANE - The owners of Chico the pet monkey who escaped his home and bit three people on Spokane's South Hill last week could face 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine according to city laws.

According to court documents, three people are accused of smuggling a monkey similar to Chico into Eastern Washington. They face federal charges which could carry up to 25 years in prison.

An indictment was filed against Gypsy Lawson, Fran Ogren, and James Pratt for smuggling a rhesus macaque monkey from Thailand into California and bringing it to Spokane.

There is no known connection between Chico and the three people indicted for smuggling.

The Spokane City Attorney said the reason the owners of Chico only face misdemeanor charges and not federal charges is because the monkey was not smuggled from outside the United States.

Rogue monkey bites residents in Spokane neighborhood

Home video showed the pet monkey, now under quarantine at Spokanimal, running through a South Hill neighborhood after it bit three people last week.

The monkey can be seen going in and out of its owners house on West 16th Avenue. Eventually, animal control officers put the monkey in a net and loaded it into a truck.

The City of Spokane forbids monkeys in the city limits because it says monkeys are an "inherently dangerous animal." Spokanimal officials are trying to decide if the monkey must be relocated.

One bite victim, Arron Trujillo, was walking his dog with his friends along 16th Avenue Thursday afternoon when the monkey chased them down the street.

"I thought it was cute until it growled," says Trujillo. "He jumped out on the grass and he ran after us."

One of Trujillo's friends tripped, which is when the monkey bit him on the thumb.

Trujillo ran home and told his mother what happened. Dorothy Trujillo thought her son was making the story up, until she saw the monkey for herself.

"The monkey charged at me and grabbed my leg and bit it," she says. "It hurt alot!"

Spokanimal says the monkey also bit a teenage girl who lives in the neighborhood.

The people who own the monkey say it found a way to escape the house while they were gone. The family says they've owned the monkey for five years and recently moved to Spokane.

Spokanimal staff said that Chico became something of a celebrity on Saturday, with some people who have heard his story coming by just to see him. Now that he's back in quarantine, visitors can no longer see Chico.

A friend of a Spokanimal staff member who has seen the monkey in his cage at Spokanimal says Chico is afraid of the dark.