The bizarre saga of a fake pregnancy that launched a thousand podcast episodes is over, as the daughter of legendary KGO radio host Ronn Owens has been indicted for faking a pregnancy with a guy from The Bachelor and lying under oath about it.  

If you’re a fan of the unholy trinity of reality TV, online influencers, and YouTube podcasters, you likely have some familiarity with the story of Laura Owens, who happens to be the daughter of 50-year KGO AM radio staple Ronn Owens. The younger Laura Owens hooked up with season 26 Bachelor star Clayton Echard in May 2023, in an apparent one-night stand (which may have only involved oral sex?). But Owens then claimed she was pregnant with twins from the encounter, and filed a paternity suit against Echard.

That Arizona civil suit apparently contained fake pregnancy tests and doctored ultrasound photos, and a fair amount of lying under oath. Now the Arizona Republic reports that Owens has been indicted  on seven felony counts, including perjury and tampering with evidence.

The YouTube video above explains the whole stupid saga, and indeed, this gossipy controversy has been largely litigated on YouTube podcasts.  But what’s interesting about the above video is how it details that Owens allegedly victimized three other men — two of them in San Francisco — in similar fake pregnancy scams (generally claiming she was carrying twins).  

In May 2023, Owens and Echard first met on LinkedIn with regards to some real estate investments. That turned into a brief sexual fling, which Echard insisted was only oral sex. But Owens quickly claimed she was pregnant, went public with her claims, and sued Echard. Her story went viral, she diaried the whole thing on Medium, and the dispute became a cause célèbre online.

Enter Youtube podcaster Dave Neal, a sort of low-rent Joe Rogan who glommed onto this story like Captain Ahab chasing Moby Dick. But this was both lucrative and validating for him, as he analyzed and showed that Owens has used fake ultrasounds, sonograms, pregnancy tests, and other falsified evidence to back up her claims.    

Thus, in June 2024, Owens lost her paternity case against Echard, and was ordered to pay his legal fees. The judge ruled this was "a case of serial fabrications," and even referred Owens for criminal prosecution, leading up to Wednesday’s indictment.

According to the Chronicle, Owens was indicted on counts of fraudulent schemes, forgery, tampering with physical evidence, and four counts of perjury.

Note: A previous version of this post stated that Owens had been found guilty. She has merely been indicted on seven charges.

Related: KGO Legend Ronn Owens Suffering from Cancer, Heart Trouble, and Parkinson’s Disease, Turns to Crowdfunding [SFist]

Image: Laura Owens via Medium

Poor Ed Jew! Not only is he doomed to spend the rest of his life with "disgraced" and "former" in front of his name, but he's in terrible danger of losing his crown as SF's most embarrassingly corrupt politician of this millennium. How quaint Jew's residency lies slash bubble tea corruption thing seems now that we have suspended Senator Leland Yee, his buddy Shrimp Boy and a 137 page criminal complaint to kick around. And to add insult to injury, this Friday Jew s expected to head back to jail.

Which, is anyone else a little surprised by this? Surely some of you wondered, at the news that the Ghee Kung Tong Supreme Lodge (just steps from Jew's family flower shop/shower) was raided, if there was some sort of connection between Jew's desire to get out of his final sentence and the busts. Or maybe I just watch too many TV shows in which the convict offers information to get out of jail time. Perhaps that, like film and television depictions of bloggers as angry slob rejects, is total fiction.

Because if a deal was struck, everyone involved is doing a great job of hiding it. Assistant District Attorney Alex Bastian has told the Ex that, despite the Jew team's best efforts, the disgraced former (see what we did there?) Supervisor is expected to turn himself in to the SF Sheriff's Department on Friday to serve his one-year sentence for lying and saying he lived in San Francisco, when he did not.

Assuming this all goes through as planned, I guess this is goodbye for now, Ed. See you next year!

[Ex]

Winning the title of first football player to be nabbed in the BALCO scandal, ex-49ers defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield was charged with lying to a federal agent when he denied taking steroids. Oh, Dana. he is expected to plead guilty in a San Francisco federal courtroom later on today.

This comes on the heels of former Olympic athlete Marion Jones receiving a six month sentence for her involvement in the BALCO scandal. And now that jail time is being dolled out, we wonder how much time, if any, Bonds will get in the clink? Just saying.

Jones, Stubblefield, Bonds--all of this begs the question: OMG, what on earth is Mary J. Blige doing using steroids? We simply refuse to believe it, but, like, really, Real Love? You too are possibly using the juice? We are most intrigued.

Dude. Duuuuuuude.

After a four-year federal investigation, today cranky baseball icon Barry Bonds was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Ouch. And Jesus. He's like Pete Rose, but worse. Which? Again, ouch.

According to CBS 5, "[w]hile Bonds was chasing Aaron amid the adulation of San Franciscans and the scorn of baseball fans almost everywhere else, due to his notoriously prickly personality and nagging steroid allegations, a grand jury quietly worked behind closed doors to put the finishing touches on the long-rumored indictment." Prickly is sure putting it mildly.