The daughter of a San Francisco radio icon who is charged with trying to extort Bachelor star Clayton Echard with false pregnancy claims is facing fresh criminal charges over allegations she pulled the same stunt with another man.
Laura Owens, 35, the daughter of longtime radio host Ronn Owens, was hit with new felony charges yesterday in Arizona for allegedly making up a fake pregnancy with an ex-partner in 2021.
She allegedly tried to trick the second man, named in Maricopa County Court papers as Gregory Gillespie, with an elaborate scheme to convince him she was pregnant.
According to prosecutors, Owens forged medical records and used ultrasound images from another woman to support her claim.
Owens allegedly stole the identity of two women in her scheme, one for the ultrasound images and another for a doctor’s note, to show Gillespie evidence of her pregnancy, according to her indictment.
Her alleged extortion scheme also saw her threaten Gillespie with accusing him of a crime if he didn’t give her money, prosecutors say.
The fresh allegations have seen Owens charged with theft by extortion, perjury, fraudulent schemes, forgery and identity theft.
Owens also accused another man, Michael Marraccini, of getting her pregnant during their relationship a decade ago, but she has not been criminally charged over those allegations.
Laura Owens, 35, who was charged with trying to extort Bachelor star Clayton Echard with false pregnancy claims, is facing fresh criminal charges over allegations she pulled the same stunt with another man
Owens is facing new charges after allegedly trying to extort Greg Gillespie (left). She has also said Bachelor star Clayton Echard (center) and ex-boyfriend Michael Marraccini (right) got her pregnant
Owens is the daughter of the legendary San Francisco DJ and radio host Ronn Owens, who lives with his daughter in Arizona.
The disc jockey filed for bankruptcy in August with his wife, according to AZ Central.
Owens captured headlines last year after she lost a civil case and a judge ruled that she had falsified sonograms and altered medical records when she accused Echard.
The judge referred her case for criminal prosecution and she was charged in May by the Maricopa County Attorney General’s Office.
Gillespie and Marraccini are reportedly on the witness list when Echard’s case goes to trial in January.
Echard’s attorney said that the allegations followed a pattern for Owens of allegedly false pregnancy accusations against several men.
Her behavior was described by the attorney as ‘so egregious and documented’ that it showed ‘a serious pattern of fraud — pregnancy fraud — for years.’
Last month, Daily Mail exclusively revealed shocking bodycam recorded in January showing Owens flying into a frenzy when cops descended on the Arizona home that she shares with her radio host father.
Owens is the daughter of the legendary San Francisco DJ and radio host Ronn Owens, who lives with his daughter in Arizona
Echard, who was ‘The Bachelor’ on Season 26 of the hit ABC dating show and now works as a realtor in Scottsdale, said he felt ‘vindicated’ when prosecutors charged Owens last May
In the footage, she was seen screaming: ”I have done nothing except get pregnant from the f**king Bachelor. I feel like I’ve gone and killed somebody!’
Owens yelled at the officers that they had no right to enter, even though they had search warrants and were polite in the face of her fury.
‘F**k all you guys,’ Owens said more than once in the videos, as she yells indignantly that her father is ‘handicapped’. She says she reacted that way because she is autistic.
Echard, 32, previously told Daily Mail that Owens’s demeanor in the videos mirrors some of the behavior he experienced from her during a lengthy ordeal that ended last May when prosecutors charged her with seven felony counts.
‘This was the stuff of a bad movie and yet it happened to me,’ Echard, 32, said, describing a ‘nightmare’ that included hundreds of harassing texts from Owens from 13 different phone numbers and three email addresses.
Echard claimed Owens began sending him five or six angry emails per day including one that showed a the pregnancy announcement photo that she planned to post if he didn’t unblock her.
He said her scheme also included efforts to discredit his reputation and get his real estate license taken away from him.
Echard claimed Owens began sending him five or six angry emails per day including this one that shows the pregnancy announcement photo that she planned to post if he didn’t unblock her
On a website set up by Echard, Gillespie and Marraccini, named Victims of Laura Owens, numerous documents and photos between Gillespie and Laura allege a disturbing pattern – including a text thread where she allegedly sent him ultrasounds claiming to be pregnant with twins
Marraccini (pictured) says he met Owens on a dating app in 2016 and dated her on and off for a year, but alleged that she faked a twin pregnancy, another singular pregnancy, multiple miscarriages and several abortions during their relationship
Echard denied the pair ever had sexual intercourse and claims they only had oral sex during their one-night stand. He said his life was turned upside down by Owens’ allegations.
He claimed she immediately became ‘obsessed’ with him after he dumped her and made up the pregnancy.
Echard, who was ‘The Bachelor’ on Season 26 of the hit ABC dating show and now works as a realtor in Scottsdale, said he felt ‘vindicated’ when prosecutors charged her last May.
He told Daily Mail that he believes Owens’s mother, former radio reporter Jan Black is the driving force behind her daughter’s legal issues, although she denies that accusation.
Prosecutors listed an unnamed ‘accomplice’ in court documents.
‘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.’
But Black insisted her daughter’s pregnancy was real and said Laura has been ‘tormented’ by an online mob, hounded by ‘men’s rights podcasters’ and prosecuted selectively by the state of Arizona.
‘I genuinely didn’t think something like this could happen in this country,’ Black, 69, told Daily Mail exclusively.
Echard claims Laura’s mother Jan Black (seen with Owens’ father Ronn Owens) ‘is the driving force’ behind her daughter’s legal troubles, while Black insists the pregnancy was real and says Laura has been ‘tormented’ by an online mob
Black (right) told Daily Mail that both she and Ronn supports Laura’s ‘version of things’ and believes she has been serially victimized by her lovers
‘It’s absolutely mind-boggling. Apparently, it’s the only time there’s been a paternity case like this prosecuted.’
Laura, she said, ‘begged the court’ to seal the record.
‘She wanted this to be private. The prosecutor seems to be saying she wanted notoriety. She begged not to have notoriety,’ Black added.
She hit back at claims both online and by Echard that she is pulling the strings behind the scenes.
‘If supporting my daughter makes me a puppet master, then fine,’ she said. ‘We’ve really tried to help her through this.’
Owens told the Daily Mail last month that she was unable to comment on her allegations because of her pending court cases.
‘I can’t tell you how much I wish I could make a statement to you and I would be happy to once the criminal side of things is over,’ she said.
‘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.’
Owens’s case has been amplified online because she previously sought protective orders against Gillespie and Marraccini, and the men set up a website, Victims of Laura Owens, to air out their side of the story.
The website outlines Owens’s alleged pattern of making false pregnancy accusations, coercing men into relationships and filing orders of protection.
Marraccini says he met Owens on a dating app in 2016 and dated her on and off for a year, but alleged that she faked a twin pregnancy, another singular pregnancy, multiple miscarriages and several abortions during their relationship.
