This is part one of a six part series with Clayton Echard.<\/p>\n
Clayton Echard has spent the past three years dealing with the fallout from a shocking accusation and wants accountability from the woman who made false paternity claims against the \u201cBachelor\u201d star.<\/p>\n
In 2023, an Arizona woman named Laura Owens accused him of getting her pregnant with twins. Echard denied the allegations, and the story spiraled into a complicated legal battle that resulted in Echard clearing his name and his accuser facing multiple felony charges, with a trial still pending.<\/p>\n
Owens has been offered a plea deal for two sets of felony charges in Maricopa County, including fraud, forgery, perjury, and tampering with evidence.<\/p>\n
Echard, now a real estate agent in Arizona, says it all began when Owens reached out to him about potential investment properties. \u201cI started showing her homes, end[ed] up crossing a professional boundary,\u201d the 33-year-old explained to PauseRewind\u2019s Elizabeth Stanton, recalling he had her come to his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hooked up, but we did not have sex. That’s important to state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Several days later, Owens sent him a message \u201cstating that she was pregnant\u201d and \u201cwas trying to convince me to date her, which I told her, it was just like a one-time thing, and that I\u2019d made a mistake, and that I’d send her to a different agent to work with her, but she said she wanted to work with me, and she wanted to try to make things work, and when I felt that she was not respecting my boundaries, that’s when I blocked her.\u201d<\/p>\n
After that, the accusation that she was pregnant by him came through \u201cand that led to now three years of me fighting her in court, to find out I\u2019m not the only one, there were other victims as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, Owens filed a paternity lawsuit against Echard, but he denied her claims, stating in court documents she \u201cfabricated her pregnancy, a condition which cannot have resulted from the parties\u2019 interactions, because according to [Echard] they never had sexual intercourse.\u201d Echard was granted Petition for Non-Paternity and his attorneys’ fees.<\/p>\n
After Echard\u2019s name was cleared, the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office investigated Owens\u2019 claims and indicted her on seven felony charges. She was indicted again six months later on additional charges stemming from accusations made against another man in 2021, including identity theft, forgery, and extortion.<\/p>\n
Owens has pleaded not guilty and been offered a plea deal, one that Echard finds lacking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s no jail time attached to it. And that, to me, that’s just not right,\u201d Echard said. \u201cI really think that for somebody that that has tried to destroy multiple men’s lives and has taken them to the brink of questioning their self-worth and their place on this earththat doesn’t set right with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued,<\/p>\n
She’s impacted us financially drastically. She’s impacted our relationships. She’s impacted our mental health, and she’s ruthless. And the thing is, if she gets off with no jail time, she’s going to do it again. And I do fear that, like, one guy will eventually feel like it’s just too much and will take his life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cIt just doesn’t make any sense to me how you don’t put her in prison for at least a year or two?\u201d<\/p>\n
Echard added, \u201cShe needs to be able to face punishment so that she also says, \u2018You know what? I probably shouldn’t do this again, because that kind of sucked with the accountability that I had to face.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The full scope of Echard\u2019s story, from the thousands of messages and emails from Owens, to the legal back and forth, to the impact on his life and career, is covered in depth on the podcast, \u201cLove Trapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Echard admits to being \u201chesitant\u201d to do the podcast given how he feels about his experiences on \u201cThe Bachelor,\u201d where he was widely regarded as a villain and the \u201cworst\u201d or at least most hated Bachelor for how his season played out. (His final rose ceremony has been dubbed \u201cThe Rose Ceremony from Hell.\u201d)<\/p>\n
He told the producers of \u201cLove Trapped,\u201d \u201cI don’t want you to tell it the wrong way. I don’t want you to screw me over, like editors have in the past. And they promised, they were like, \u2018Hey, we have no intention of making you look like a bad person, we want to paint you in a good light. I told them, \u2018Well, hey, you don’t have to paint me in a good light. Just paint me as I am.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The result is a 12 episode podcast that Echard says is \u201cpacked all the way down to the final episode.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLove Trapped\u201d is available now on everywhere podcasts are heard.<\/p>\n
Follow us on Instagram @WeArePauseRewind<\/a> for all your pop culture obsessions.<\/p>\n
Part two of the series will be available tomorrow.<\/p>\n