The daughter of Bay Area radio legend has been hit with felony charges for allegedly lying about being impregnated by a former star of The Bachelor.
Laura Michelle Owens, the 34-year-old daughter of Ronn Owens, allegedly engaged in the deception from May 2023 to June 2024, all to seek child support from Scottsdale's Clayton Echard.
She is said to have given Echard oral sex twice during a May 2023 encounter, with the TV hunk ending leaving Owens distraught after trying to end their fling the next day.
Eleven days after that, Owens claimed to be pregnant.
The Bachelor Season 26 star denied having sexual intercourse with her, and Owens dropped the paternity case months later.
At the time, Owens claimed she suffered a miscarriage.
A seven-count indictment indictment - alleging perjury, forgery, tampering with evidence, and fraud - insists otherwise.
Filed in Arizona Tuesday, it alleges Owens altered an ultrasound image, fabricated a pregnancy video, and lied multiple times under oath to paint the reality star as the parent.
Moreover, Owens' alleged web of lies also included lying about her miscarriage. Echard, 32, celebrated her indictment in a statement to social media.
Laura Michelle Owens, the 34-year-old daughter of Ronn Owens, allegedly engaged in the campaign of deception from May 2023 to June 2024,
She sought child support from Scottsdale's Clayton Echard, the star of The Bachelor Season 26. He denied ever having sex with her, and Owens dropped a paternity case against him months later
Ronn Owens, now retired at 79, was the host of a ten-minute weekday radio program that aired in San Francisco for 46 years called the Ronn Owens Report. Its final episode aired in 2021.
His daughter maintains she never faked a pregnancy, and that she is being victimized by a coordinated campaign called 'Justice for Clayton' that's surfaced online.
She issued a statement Tuesday as well.
'These charges appear to be the product of intense public pressure, not impartial judgment,' a portion read.
'They reflect a system that responded to online outrage, ignored procedural protections, and moved forward based on narrative rather than fact.
'It is difficult not to see them as part of a broader effort to discredit me, discourage me, and make an example out of me,' it continued.
'I intend to meet these accusations head-on - and I will defend myself, fully and relentlessly, through every step of this process.'
Echard, who starred on the reality show in 2022, said, 'Justice is finally served,'
'This nightmare is over,' he told his nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram.
Owens maintains she never faked a pregnancy, and that she is being victimized by a coordinated online campaign called 'Justice for Clayton'. She issued a statement Tuesday saying she would continue to fight the case in court
Ronn Owens, now retired at 79, was the host of a ten-minute weekday radio program that aired in San Francisco for 46 years called the Ronn Owens Report. Its final episode aired in 2021. He's seen here with his daughter the year before
'I am so ready to not have to think about this anymore... I have not been this happy.
'This is a weight of two years lifted off my shoulders. It feels good.'
He added how the 'weight' brought by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office lengthy investigation into his claims was now 'lifted.'
The probe was called after a judge cast doubt on Owens' paternity case nearly a year and a half ago.
The jurist, at the time, called Owens’ complaint alleging she had a one-night stand with Echard was 'premature at best,' and 'at worst...fraudulent.'
The paternity case was filed not long after Echard pegged Susie Evans as the Bachelor winner and mere months after their split in the fall of 2022.
The pair are believed to have hooked up. But Echard said his encounters with Owens did not involve full sex, meaning it was impossible for him to have gotten her pregnant.
Echard's lawyers successfully swayed the court after alleging the daughter of the retired radio host has attempted similar schemes several times before.
Echard did admit Owens performed oral sex on him, during a brief encounter on May 20, 2023.
Court documents and witness accounts compiled on Justice For Clayton chronicle several of these alleged accusations, including one from man who accused Owens of faking a pregnancy in 2014 and another from Michael Marraccini in early 2016.
Both men, as well as another unnamed partner and an accuser named Greg Gillespie, claim Owens lied about them fathering her nonexistent children.
Those claims have yet to be proven, but were enough to convince a grandy jury Tuesday there was enough for a case.
As for Echard, Owens demanded he 'take a prenatal paternity test' to prove his parenthood, after using a fake ultrasound image and a 'fabricated ... pregnancy video' to make her claims.
She then insisted she had a miscarriage - a claim found to be false in family court.
Within 11 days, Owens was claiming she was pregnant. She continues to insist she was.
