Prosecutors in Arizona announced Tuesday that a grand jury has indicted Laura Owens, the daughter of Bay Area radio icon Ronn Owens, on multiple counts of felony fraud, related to a YouTube-fueled legal drama in which she claimed that âBachelorâ star Clayton Echard impregnated her in 2023, saying at one point that she was carrying his twins before withdrawing her claim after saying she miscarried.
The indictment was announced Tuesday by prosecutors in Maricopa County, where Owens lives on a property in Scottsdale with her ailing 79-year-old father, the beloved former KGO 810 talk-radio host, and her mother, veteran radio journalist Jan Black.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA â DECEMBER 03: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Clayton Echard attends iHeartRadio 102.7 KIIS FMâs Jingle Ball 2021 presented by Capital One at The Forum on December 03, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for iHeartRadio) District Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Owens has been charged with seven counts of fraud, perjury, forgery and evidence tampering. The charges stem from Owensâ petition for a court order for paternity against Echard, in which she alleged that she became pregnant during a sexual encounter with him in May 2023. She later withdrew her petition after saying said she suffered a miscarriage in November of that year.
Owensâ paternity claims, which Echard vehemently denied, played out in a June 2024 court hearing that was packed with close to 100 people from around the country because of Echardâs âBachelorâ fame, according to the Arizona Republic . By that time, the case had become an internet cause cĂ©lĂšbre â dubbed âFetal Attractionâ by one YouTuber â as Echardâs âBachelor Nationâ fans rallied to his defense against a woman they believe was âa pregnancy hoaxer.â Owens was accused at one point of wearing a fake pregnant belly prosthetic, or âmoon bump,â to one court hearing.
This news organization has reached out to Owens for comment on the indictment. In an interview in January and in Medium posts , Owens, who hosts a podcast with her mother, said she had in fact become pregnant and took tests to prove it. After filing her petition in August 2023, she acknowledged that she anonymously publicized her paternity claims in the tabloid The Sun in order to get Echard to take responsibility. Owens also has written about being the target of âa smear campaign,â waged by an online âJustice for Clayton cultâ and by multiple content creators, whom she said were profiting off her case.
Owens also lamented that her parents had become embroiled in the controversy because of their public support for her. Ronn Owens and Jan Black were accused of running a âscamâ to raise money for their daughterâs legal bills after people close to the family launched a GoFundMe campaign in January to help the former Bay Area media star alleviate the financial toll associated with his âprofoundâ health struggles. At the time, Ronn Owens revealed that heâs dealt with four bouts of cancer, most recently colon cancer, and âsome serious heart issuesâ while also living with Parkinsonâs disease since 2001.
âI see how upset it makes them and I worry about them,â said Laura Owens, who said that none of the some $122,000 raised from the GoFundMe campaign, was used for her legal expenses. âI especially worry about my dad, with all the health issues that heâs had.â
For his part, Echard took to Instagram on Tuesday, declaring, âJustice has finally been served.â
âThe nightmare is finally over,â Echard said to his 284,000 followers. âI am so ready to not have to think about this anymore. ⊠This is such a weight of two years lifted off my shoulders.â
The saga between Owens and Echard began in May 2023. In interviews and in court documents, Echard described meeting Owens after launching a career as a realtor, following his stints as a contestant on âThe Bacheloretteâ in 2021 and as the star of Season 26 of âThe Bachelorâ in 2022. He said Owens contacted him about looking at property for a real estate investment and they had a one-night stand â which he said only involved oral sex, not sexual intercourse. He said he told her he did not want to pursue a relationship and became concerned that she faked being pregnant in order to stay close to him.
But Owens said their encounter led to her becoming pregnant â and both she and Echard have gone into graphic detail about their encounter in separate interviews and blog posts. After Owens filed her petition, Echard accused her of lying and fabricating medical documents. His lawyers also submitted examples of Owens threatening to take the story to the press, according to the Arizona Republic.
Following a June 2024 hearing, Maricopa County Judge Julie Mata sided with Echard and issued âa scathing rulingâ against Owens, saying that she failed to produce evidence that she was ever pregnant, such as an authentic ultrasound or evidence that she had undergone a physical examination, the Arizona Republic also reported at the time. Mata also said that Owens had altered documents, changed the results of a pregnancy test, gave false testimony and potentially perjured herself in what appeared to be a âcase of serial fabrications.â
Mata referred the case to the District Attorneyâs Office for investigation and potential felony prosecution. Last month, an Arizona appeals court upheld Mataâs ruling, with the court also saying she âdid not errâ in awarding attorneys fees to Echard.
Complicating matters for Owens have been allegations by Echardâs attorneys that she has a pattern of falsely claiming to be pregnant by men she dates.
In a September 2024 Medium post , Owens, who said she has been diagnosed with ADHD, post-traumatic stress disorder and autism, claimed she had previously became pregnant by two ex-boyfriends. The first ex-boyfriend accompanied her to Planned Parenthood to have a medical abortion, and she later accused him of becoming abusive and obtained a domestic violence restraining order against him, she said. Owens also said she sued a second ex-boyfriend for alleging coercing her to have abortion, and she similarly obtained a court order of protection against him.
Originally Published: May 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM PDT
