Laura Owens pleaded guilty after falsely accusing former Bachelor star Clayton Echard of fathering her unborn twins following a one-night stand.

On Friday, Aug. 28, the 36-year-old woman entered a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of taking the identity of another and one count of perjury, according to 12 News, Fox 10 Phoenix and The Mercury News.

In a paternity lawsuit Owens filed against Echard in 2023, she claimed that he had fathered her unborn twins following a one-night stand. According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE at the time, Echard denied the claims during a subsequent trial, alleging that Owens “fabricated her pregnancy, a condition which cannot have resulted from the parties’ interactions, because according to [Echard] they never had sexual intercourse.”

Laura Owens’ mug shot.Courtesy of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
Owens, who is facing up to 12 and a half years in prison, will be sentenced in October, according to Fox 10 Phoenix.

After Arizona Judge Julie Ann Mata determined that Owens “knowingly presented a false claim” in June 2024, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced the following May that she had been indicted on seven felony charges.

Owens was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of perjury, one count of forgery, one count of tampering with physical evidence and one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices. She pleaded not guilty at the time.

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Owens “made several inconsistent statements during a paternity hearing involving” Echard, per the release, and the investigation determined that “between May 2023 and June 2024, Owens altered an ultrasound image, fabricated a pregnancy video, and lied multiple times under oath.”

Echard opened up about his history with Owens while speaking with Inside Edition in October 2025, claiming that he wasn’t her first victim.

Clayton Echard in 2023.George Pimentel/Shutterstock
“I’m dealing with the most crazy individual I’ve ever met in my life,” he said at the time, claiming that he and Owens never actually had intercourse. “She was just taking medications in order to appear bloated… she wasn’t pregnant at all.”

The Bachelor alum recalled meeting Owens when she reached out to him about buying a home he was selling at the time.

While he later admitted that he shouldn’t have “crossed that professional boundary,” he also claimed that he was contacted by two other men who alleged she made the same claims against them.

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“She’s still probably looking for her next victim,” he told the outlet.

The following month, the court shared that Owens was indicted on additional charges related to a false claim of pregnancy involving a second victim.

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These charges included one count of perjury, one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices, two counts of taking the identity of another, two counts of forgery and one count of theft by extortion-accusation of a crime.

“At the end of the day, I don’t want her to do this ever again to anybody else … I think she’s shown no signs of stopping,” Echard told PEOPLE in June 2024. “I mean, I was victim number four that we know of, and so we felt that especially when somebody commits a crime, they should have to face legal repercussions for doing so.”