AZ woman gets jail in ‘Bachelor’ pregnancy-fraud case

She pleaded guilty Aug. 28 to two counts of fraudulent schemes, one count of perjury and one count of taking the identity of another, according to court documents. The plea agreement did not guarantee Owens would avoid prison.

Owens faced a term ranging from three to 12 years. The presumptive prison term was five years.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining 10 counts, which included additional allegations of forgery, perjury, identity theft, theft by extortion and evidence tampering.

She was sentenced to a month in jail on Oct. 23.

Plea resolves false pregnancy accusations

The criminal case grew out of Owens’ legal fight with Echard, who disputed her claim that he had fathered twins after an encounter at his Scottsdale home in 2023.

In 2024, Superior Court Judge Julie Mata found that Owens had falsified sonograms, altered medical records and lied under oath during the civil case. Mata ordered Owens to pay Echard’s legal fees and referred the matter to prosecutors.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office initially charged Owens in May 2025 and later expanded the case to include pregnancy claims she made against Gregory Gillespie, who lived in Scottsdale when the two dated in 2021.

Prosecutors accused Owens of using forged medical records and the identities of other women to bolster those claims. One claim involved an ultrasound belonging to another woman.s

Prosecutor: Owens waged 'psychological warfare' on victims

Owens was a master manipulator who exploited her victims’ kindness and compassion, according to Maricopa County prosecutor Nicole Northup.

“The psychological warfare that she waged on these men was extreme,” Northup said.

Northup said Owens told Gillespie in the summer of 2021 that she was pregnant with twins, just 11 days after they had intercourse using a condom.

Northup shared screenshots of text messages from Aug. 2021 in which Owens told Gillespie that her attempt to end the pregnancy using abortion pills had failed. She also criticized him for blocking her while he was infected with COVID-19.

Owens continued texting Gillespie, suggesting they start a relationship and asking that he forgive her for her behavior and promise not to block her, Northup said.

Days later, Owens sent Gillespie a picture of a fake ultrasound, claiming she would have had a surgical abortion if he had supported her. She also threatened legal action if the abortion pills harmed or deformed the fetus she claimed to be carrying.

Northup also said Owens doctored an email impersonating a medical professional, falsely claiming Owens had come from a domestic violence situation. The medical professional denied writing the email and later told investigators that it would have been inappropriate for her to write the statements attributed to her. Gillespie told Owens he found the ultrasound she sent him on the Internet and suggested they go to an ultrasound appointment together to prove she was actually pregnant, which didn’t ultimately happen, Northup said.

In 2023, Owens contacted Echard for a possible real estate deal, according to Maricopa County prosecutor Edward Leiter. The two engaged in oral sex, after which Echard felt he had crossed an ethical line as a real estate agent and referred her to another agent, which angered Owens, according to Leiter.

Looking to improve her brand as a public speaker, Owens looked into getting HCG injections under the guise of improving her skin, Leiter said.

Such injections could also generate false positives from pregnancy tests, which Owens wanted to use to blackmail Echard into entering a relationship with her, Leiter said.

Owens then asked her sister, Sarah Owens, to provide her own ultrasound — which Laura Owens photoshopped to show twins — to trick Echard into believing she was pregnant with his children despite the two never having intercourse, Leiter added.

She filed a paternity lawsuit against Echard in August 2023 and became overjoyed when the case garnered significant media attention, Leiter said.

Prosecutors discovered Owens doctored photos to make her look pregnant during a criminal investigation in October 2023 and made a mockery of the court by continually presenting false statements and evidence, according to Leiter.

Former 'Bachelor' star: Owens only sorry about being caught

Echard told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Rueter that Owens accepting a plea deal wasn’t the same as accepting responsibility.

“Laura’s been carrying out these tactics for at least 10 years,” Echard said. “She’s not sorry — she’s sorry she got caught.”

He urged Rueter to not fall for Owens’ likely attempt to seek pity and argued that any anguish or hardship she might claim to have undergone was of her own making.

“Today is about being able to have her face accountability and face a charge that is fair,” Echard said. “Because again, being able to choose your suffering is not the same thing as being forced to endure suffering.”

A prison sentence was necessary to prevent Owens from repeating what she had done to multiple men already, Echard said.

If Owens was truly sorry for her actions, Echard challenged her to look at him and her other victims in the eye, admit she lied about everything and apologize for her actions.

“And we will know, if she can do that, whether or not she’s being truthful,” Echard said. “Because you cannot fake empathy to that degree. So she can say she’s sorry, but show us you actually are.”

Leiter read written statements from Owens' other victims, including Gillespie, who wrote that she had inflicted significant financial and emotional harm that remained years later.

"Being served multiple orders of protection at work based on false allegations was humiliating, frightening and deeply damaging to my reputation, Gillespie wrote.

Leiter added that Owens used false accusations of domestic violence as a tactic to exploit her victims and demeaned actual victims of domestic violence by doing so.

He recommended Owens be sentenced to one year in jail, followed by a decade of supervised probation and 400 hours of community service.

Owens' parents ask for leniency

Ronn and Jan Owens asked Rueter to show their family leniency and noted that she's an instrumental part of Ronn's care. Ronn was 81, had battled Parkinson's disease for 26 years as well as three kinds of cancer, Jan Owens said.

"Three years ago, we were told that Ronn only had six months to a year to live," Jan Owens said. "And while thankfully he has outlived that prognosis, a jail sentence for Laura would, in reality, be a punitive sentence for us as well."

Jan Owens said her daughter had become the target of a relentless and vitriolic online harassment campaign waged by those seeking fame, money and entertainment at her daughter's expense.

"They don't care that there's a real human being with a family beyond the bullying," Jan Owens said.

Ronn Owens sat in a wheelchair as he told the court that he loved his daughter more than he could put into words and asked that she not be taken from him for the limited time he had left.

Owens herself told Rueter she was “terrified” of what might come after her statement but wanted to accept accountability that her actions harmed others.

"I am profoundly, profoundly sorry for the pain, the stress and expense that I've caused them," Owens said. "And for failing the standard of honesty that this court had every right to expect of me."

She wished she could go back in time and make different choices and began to sob as she described receiving death threats against her and her family.

Owens, who appeared to be severely underweight, said she weighed 85 pounds and had lost 50 pounds due to the stress and anguish she had endured as the case went on.

Judge: ‘Nothing makes sense about this’

After hearing from all the parties, Rueter said the bizarre details of the case had him at a loss.

"Nothing makes sense about this," Rueter said. "She's either a sophisticated, conniving, calculating shakedown artist, or she's been engaging in some really poorly thought-out attention-seeking behavior as a result of mental health issues. So which is it? Because one deserves one kind of sentence and one deserves a different kind of sentence."

If her plan was to extort money from her victims, Rueter said it would have been the "worst plan" because it was "never going to work." While she may have gained some notoriety, it wasn't the kind anyone would want.

Rueter said he saw someone who lied about being pregnant to coerce men into a relationship.

"That tells you pretty much all you need to know when you're deciding whether or not she's this sophisticated, calm person or a very sad individual making some poor choices," Rueter said. "Obviously, I think it's the latter."

Rueter proceeded to sentence Owens to 30 days in jail and seven years of supervised probation, with the possibility that she serve up to 12 and a half years in prison should she violate her probation.

Rueter ordered her to be placed in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office before he concluded the hearing.