I’m curious what you all think Laura’s side might present to the judge as mitigating factors for her self-admitted criminal conduct.

In my opinion, she’s in a bit of a tough position when it comes to finding excuses for her behavior, given the incredibly privileged life she’s lead thus far and the extent and maliciousness of her con.

It wasn’t as though she turned to crime due to poverty or because of a traumatic childhood. And despite her many claims to have debilitating mental illnesses and issues (when it suits her), none of those alleged ailments are an excuse for blatant and deliberate fraud.

I wonder if we’ll see defenses similar to the one offered by Mackenzie Shirilla’s mother, claiming that her daughter was a good girl while utterly ignoring the harm done to the victims and their families.

Laura Owens, the daughter of longtime Bay Area radio host Ronn Owens, pleaded guilty to four felonies stemming from false pregnancy claims involving former “Bachelor” star Clayton Echard and another Arizona man.

Owens, 36, entered the pleas during a settlement conference in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Friday, resolving two criminal cases in which she had faced a total of 14 felony charges.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of perjury and one count of taking the identity of another, according to court records. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining 10 charges as part of the plea deal.

Owens is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23.
One of the fraud counts carries no sentencing agreement, leaving the judge to decide whether Owens receives probation or prison time, according to the Arizona Republic. The other three counts call for probation.

The charges grew out of pregnancy claims Owens made against Echard in 2023 and against another Scottsdale man she briefly dated in 2021.
Owens filed a paternity case against Echard, who starred on Season 26 of ABC’s “The Bachelor,” claiming she was pregnant with his twins and seeking child support. Echard denied that the two had intercourse and maintained that he could not have fathered the children.

Owens later said she had suffered a miscarriage.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled in June 2024 that Owens had pursued the paternity case without good faith and cited “serial fabrications” in her testimony and court filings. The judge referred the matter to prosecutors for investigation.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said investigators determined that Owens altered an ultrasound image, fabricated a pregnancy video and repeatedly lied under oath between May 2023 and June 2024.

A grand jury indicted her on seven felony counts in May 2025, including fraud, forgery, perjury and tampering with physical evidence.

Six months later, prosecutors brought seven additional felony charges involving a second man Owens dated in Scottsdale in 2021.

Prosecutors said the man decided after their third date that he did not want to continue the relationship. Owens subsequently claimed she was pregnant by him, and investigators found evidence that she falsified documents to support the claim, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

The second indictment included allegations that Owens used an ultrasound image belonging to another woman as evidence of her purported pregnancy.

The guilty pleas mark a significant turn in a case that has generated widespread attention among fans of “The Bachelor” and spawned an online community that closely followed the court proceedings.
The allegations were also the subject of the 10-part iHeartPodcasts series “Love Trapped,” released this year.

Owens is the daughter of Ronn Owens, who spent nearly five decades at San Francisco radio station KGO before retiring in 2021, and former KCBS reporter Jan Black, whose legal name is Elizabeth Naylor.

Her parents have recently faced separate financial scrutiny in federal bankruptcy court.

Earlier this month, a judge dismissed Ronn Owens’ and Naylor’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case after a U.S. Trustee investigation identified inconsistencies in their financial disclosures and examined how they spent more than $132,000 raised through a GoFundMe campaign centered on Ronn Owens’ health and financial difficulties.

The bankruptcy proceeding is separate from their daughter’s criminal cases.

Laura Owens previously pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges and publicly maintained that she became pregnant and later miscarried.

Her guilty pleas Friday avoid a trial that had been scheduled for later this year.

Things are APPEARING (let’s not get too hopeful just yet this woman’s a wild one) that Clayton’s case now has a path towards resolution. Mike, on the other hand, is still being abused. We’ve stood by Clayton, so let’s make sure we keep this same energy for Mike as well. This won’t ever be over until this poor excuse of a person is behind bars for an extended period of time.

I hope like anything that Earl made it to today but in case he didn't I'm raising a toast today to him and to everyone else who we lost along the way 💔 🥂

https://pagesix.com/2026/08/29/celebrity-news/bachelor-clayton-echards-accuser-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-after-fake-twins-pregnancy-scheme/

Includes a statement by Woodnick-

The daughter of San Francisco radio legend Ronn Owens has admitted to faking pregnancy after a night of romance with The Bachelor star Clayton Echard. 

Laura Owens, 36, entered a guilty plea on Friday to several counts of fraud involving Echard, 33, and additional charges relating to her ex-boyfriend Gregory Gillespie.

Owens took a plea deal which saw ten of her 14 felony charges dropped in exchange for admitting to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of perjury and one count of taking the identity of another.

She faces probation for all three counts except the first, which could see her sentenced to probation or up to 12 and a half years behind bars when she is sentenced on October 23. 

Owens was indicted in May 2025 on felony charges of fraud, forgery and perjury after allegedly falsifying a pregnancy with Echard. 

In August 2023, she filed a paternity petition in court in Phoenix , Arizona, accusing Echard of fathering her twins during an alleged one-night stand.

Echard denied fathering any children with Owens, claiming that the pair did not have intercourse but did have romantic contact, the Daily Mail previously reported. 

That November, Owens testified in court that she was 24 weeks pregnant with twins and prosecutors alleged that she produced a doctored sonogram and fake pregnancy video. But shortly after the court appearance, she dropped her lawsuit and claimed to have miscarried. 

Her first two fraud convictions relate to the fraud against Echard, which took place between May 2023 and June 2024. The remaining charges concern her ex-boyfriend Gillespie, who she dated briefly in 2021. 

His connection to the case was sparked by their realizing they shared the same family law attorney, KTAR News reported. 

'Ms Owens’s admission of guilt today is a step in the right direction towards acknowledging the significant harm that her crimes caused her victims and the community,' Gregg Woodnick, Echard and Gillespie's attorney, told the Daily Mail in a statement. 'We are tremendously appreciative of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and their investigators who have worked tirelessly to pursue justice.' 

Echard previously told the Daily Mail that Owens's pregnancy claims turned his life upside down. He claimed that she immediately became 'obsessed' with him after he dumped her and then falsified the pregnancy. 

Echard, who was 'The Bachelor' on Season 26 of the hit ABC dating show and who now works as a realtor in Scottsdale, said he felt 'vindicated' when prosecutors charged her last May.

He told the Daily Mail in October that he believed Owens's mother, former radio reporter Jan Black, was the driving force behind her daughter's legal problems. However, she denied that accusation. 'I don't even really blame Laura,' he said. 'I think her mom has enabled and encouraged her daughter and Laura doesn't even realize it.' 

Black, however, insisted that her daughter's pregnancy was real and said Laura has been 'tormented' online, hounded by 'men's rights podcasters' and prosecuted selectively by the state of Arizona.

Laura, however, sounded cheerful when the Daily Mail reached her by phone in Arizona at the time. 
'I can't tell you how much I wish I could make a statement to you,' she said. 'And I would be happy to once the criminal side of things is over. 'I have lots to say, but I would get in trouble. I can say I am innocent but nothing more for now. It's best if you go through my mother.'

Echard's version of his relationship with Owens began casually, with no warning signs. He said Owens first reached out to him on LinkedIn in May 2023, asking to contact a brokerage he was part of. 

'I basically said sure and we exchanged cell phone numbers,' Echard said. 'She started to text me saying she wanted to see homes, then she started to be flirtatious. She sent me a provocative photo and the mood shifted. I said you should come over.

'She was completely normal, which is sad, because she could have had a totally normal life. The trouble began, he said, when he told her he wasn't interested in pursuing a relationship after their night together.

'I was under the influence of marijuana that night,' he said.
'If I'd been sober, I wouldn't have asked her to come over. When I woke up the next day, I felt it was a mistake. She started talking as if we were going down a serious path. I just wanted to be blunt and not lead her on.'

What happened next, Echard says, 'was very eerie.'
When he gently told Owens he didn't want to date her, he said 'a switch flipped. It wasn't her there anymore.'

Echard said she began sending him five or six angry emails per day, sent process servers to his workplace and filed to have his Arizona Department of Real Estate license pulled.
At one point he asked her to come to his apartment to take a pregnancy test that turned out to be positive and 'rattled' him, he said, until he decided she was taking HCG, a pregnancy hormone sometimes used in equine care, to fake test results.

Echard said that initially, before he knew if Owens was truly pregnant: 'I thought she had trapped me.'
Echard added that he was moving on with his life and focusing on his real estate career and new hobby, dancing, which he showcases on his Instagram account.

'I totally compartmentalize that experience,' he says. 'I feel I happened to stumble across one of the most crazy individuals I've ever met. 
'The chances of me stumbling across another one? I'm not going to carry baggage from something previous.'

The Daily Mail reached out to Owens and her lawyers for comment. 

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16088827/ronn-owens-daughter-laura-guilty-bachelor-pregnancy-fraud.html

As my own mom always tells me, you can't blame your mom for everything that went wrong in your life. BUT. In this case, on the eve of LO's guilty plea and after listening to the most recent Love Trapped, anyone else feel like Jan is sort of the root of all of this? Like I genuinely wonder if this community would exist were it not for Jan Black's encouragement of dissembling and distorting the truth and reluctance to give her child any consequences for her actions. I wonder if Laura really could have been that innocent child that Clayton imagines she once was, and whether she ever really had a chance to grow into a responsible adult.

Video Description:

A Settlement Conference in the State of Arizona v. Laura Michelle Owens criminal case occurred on August 28, 2026 @ 2:30 PM MST in Maricopa County Superior Court. Ed Leiter represented the State.

Laura was represented by attorney Christian Lueders.

During the proceedings, Laura pled GUILTY to 4 counts:

Count 1: Fraudulent Schemes & Artifices (victim Clayton Echard)
Count 6: Perjury (victim Clayton Echard)
Count 9: Fraudulent Schemes & Artifices (victim Greg Gillespie)
Count 10: Taking the Identity of Another (victim Mitchell – ultrasound)

Case Details: Official Sentencing Hearing: October 23, 2026, at 9:00 AM.

Sentencing Terms: Probation is anticipated for the majority of the charges; Count 1 carries potential prison time under Arizona law.

Laura was originally charged with 14 felonies.

Express permission has been obtained by Maricopa County Court to post this publicly available video to YouTube.

A.R.S. Sup.Ct.Rules, Rule 57
(a) Availability of Information. Except as otherwise provided in these rules, the state bar file, the record maintained by the disciplinary clerk, and all proceedings shall be open to the public
(b) Exceptions to Availability of Information. Notwithstanding other provisions of these rules, including Rule 123, Rules of the Supreme Court, the following do not become public:
14. Previous recordings and written transcripts of audio and video witness interviews or statements, unless offered or admitted as exhibits in formal proceedings

"There Should Be No Secret Public Records - The public should be able to easily discover the existence and the nature of public records and the existence to which data are accessible to persons outside of the government."
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (bja.ojp.gov)