‘Bachelor’ star calls Ronn Owens’ daughter ‘a threat to others,’ urges prison after guilty plea

After Laura Owens pleaded guilty to four felony charges stemming from pregnancy claims involving two Arizona men, one of those men, former “Bachelor” star Clayton Echard, said she should go to prison because she remains “a threat to others” and needs to be removed from her current environment.

Echard recorded a video statement after the 36-year-old daughter of Bay Area radio legend Ronn Owens entered her guilty plea Friday in Maricopa County, Arizona. Owens pleaded guilty to four felony counts, while prosecutors dismissed 10 other charges. The case included allegations that she committed fraud and perjury and stole another woman’s ultrasound image.

Owens pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, stemming from her efforts to convince Echard and the second Arizona man she was pregnant in 2023 and 2021, respectively, by means of “fraudulent pretenses, representation, promises, or material omissions.” She also pleaded guilty to one count of perjury involving a false statement she made at her June 2024 paternity trial against Echard about appearing in a video with a pregnant belly. She additionally pleaded guilty to taking the identity of another — an ultrasound image posted online by a Texas woman — to convince the Arizona man she was pregnant.

The former San Francisco resident is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. The judge said she could receive probation or as much as 12 years in prison.

In the video, Echard said he has largely healed from his yearslong ordeal with Owens, which began when she claimed she became pregnant with his twins during a one-time sexual encounter in May 2023, then publicized those allegedly false claims to The Sun tabloid. He expressed some relief about her guilty plea, saying it “marks the first time that we’ve seen Laura take any accountability in this matter.”

But as much as Echard said he hopes Owens can heal and “see brighter days,” he also said she needs to be incarcerated for a period of time because she won’t have a chance for rehabilitation otherwise.

“She’s shown that she is a threat to others,” Echard continued, “and so I believe she deserves to — or rather, needs to — go to prison to be separated from her environment so that she can hopefully heal … and (get) a second chance to come out to the real world and prove that she can be a better person.”

Echard declined to comment further on his statement, including whether he views Owens’ guilty plea as her acknowledgment that she was never pregnant. He said he hopes she’ll one day reveal “why she did what she did.”

“She certainly could help me heal to a greater degree if she did that, and she’d be able to help other people (who) have gone through similar circumstances with someone like Laura,” he said. Owens did not return a request for comment on whether she would offer such an explanation. Her parents also did not respond to requests for comment.

The Maricopa County Probation Office will prepare a report that addresses her crimes, her personal history and her risk of reoffending, with her being a first-time offender likely working in her favor, said Jason Lamm, a Phoenix-based criminal defense attorney. The report could also delve into her mental health history if her attorney wants to argue that a diagnosis justifies a lesser sentence, Lamm said. Owens has previously said in court documents and public statements that she was diagnosed with autism and an eating disorder and has dealt with anxiety, depression and PTSD.

Defendants also may write or say something to the judge. But Lamm said he only encourages clients to make a statement if they have something “meaningful or insightful to say” and if “they express genuine remorse.”

“The last thing you want is to get them in court saying they aren’t guilty,” he said. “Projecting or justifying is not going to help.”

The possibility of prison following four felony convictions marks a stunning turn of events for Owens. She was raised in the San Francisco home of her wealthy celebrity parents, former KGO-810 news-talk host Ronn Owens, the self-described “Voice of Reason” in the Bay Area, and Jan Black, a former KCBS News reporter. A longtime equestrian and aspiring self-help podcaster, Owens moved with her parents to Scottsdale in 2021 following her father’s retirement from his Radio Hall of Fame career. She has continued to live with them and rely on them for financial support.

That year, Owens met the second Arizona man on a dating app and claimed she became pregnant with his twins after they had sex on their second date, according to court records. After he told her he no longer wanted to see her, prosecutors said Owens texted him an ultrasound image, stolen from the Texas woman, to show a purported twin pregnancy, according to records. She filed a lawsuit, accusing him of abortion coercion, domestic violence and emotional distress, but the case was dismissed.

Echard’s ordeal with Owens began two years later, after he starred on Season 26 of “The Bachelor.” He had become a realtor, and Owens reached out to him about investing in property. During their one and only date, they became intimate, though Echard said there was no sexual intercourse.

After Echard told Owens he wanted to keep their relationship professional, court records show she sent him some 500 texts and emails, using 13 different phone numbers, according to court records. She claimed to be pregnant with twins, threatened to go to the media, offered to get an abortion if they dated exclusively and boasted about “the privilege” of a sexual relationship with her.

Owens’ paternity case against Echard brought her national attention and made her the subject of reports, commentary and investigations by YouTube journalists, online sleuths and “Bachelor” fans. But her prior pregnancy claims against the second Arizona man and against Michael Marraccini, her ex-boyfriend in San Francisco, also became part of the online discussion. Owens’ case has been examined in the iHeartMedia and Glass podcast “Love Trapped.”

Owens came under criminal investigation after a Maricopa County family court judge, presiding over her June 2024 paternity trial against Echard, referred the case to prosecutors. The judge, Julie Mata, said Owens lacked “good faith” and cited “serial fabrications” that she made in her court declarations, deposition and testimony.

The Maricopa County charges involve Echard and the second Arizona man. Owens has long maintained that she had positive pregnancy tests to support her claims against these men. In Medium posts and in statements to this news organization, she described herself as a victim of online harassment and insisted that the charges against her were the result of public pressure from a misinformation campaign coordinated by Echard fans.

In an investigative report, Maricopa County authorities alleged that Owens fabricated the pregnancy allegations to compel the men into relationships. Authorities also said she wanted to “increase her notoriety” through “lies and contrived evidence” as she took the men to court to seek protective orders.

Attorney Gregg Woodnick, who represented both Echard and the second Arizona man, said Owens should face prison time because of the way she abused “the legal process to perpetrate her cons” and because she refused to back down from her claims, even after she was “caught faking medical records” and making “inconsistent and perjurious statements” in her deposition for the paternity case.

Woodnick said he interpreted Echard’s reference to Owens’ environment as her continued reliance on and residence with her parents, who have publicly supported her claims. Echard did not confirm that interpretation.

In a separate Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, Owens admitted to a U.S. Justice Department attorney that she’s never had a full-time job and has always relied on financial support from her parents. The 80-year-old radio host and his wife also expressed their “unwavering support” for their daughter. In a signed statement to this news organization in May, they rejected criticism that they enabled her by backing her pregnancy claims or by supporting her court actions against each of the three men.

Ronn Owens and Black said their daughter had “verified medical evidence” of all three of her pregnancies. Black also said in an interview that she didn’t think it was “that unusual” for a woman in her early 30s to “have been pregnant, you know, with three different men” and to have protective orders against all three. They did not respond to questions about whether they plan to address their daughter’s guilty plea with Ronn Owens’ Bay Area fans.

Given Owens’ living situation and her continued pursuit of the pregnancy claims, Woodnick joined Echard in calling for a prison term.

“I think an appropriate consequence for Laura involves incarceration followed by lengthy supervised probation, in-person therapy, and actual employment so she can pay her restitution,” Woodnick said.