Speaker 1: Over the past year, Laura's found herself in quite the bind.
Speaker 1: She's facing a complicated patchwork of consequences and it can
Speaker 1: be hard to follow. That's because we're talking about cases
Speaker 1: across two states, Arizona and California. We're talking about multiple
Speaker 1: different court systems, civil courts, family courts, and now criminal courts.
Speaker 1: So I want to regroup and give you an overview
Speaker 1: of what Laura's up against. In June twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: Clayton won his family court case against Laura. That's a
Speaker 1: civil court judgment. Along with her judgment, Judge Mata ordered
Speaker 1: Laura to pay Clayton's legal fees, a number that after
Speaker 1: Laura's failed appeals, is nearing two hundred thousand dollars. Then
Speaker 1: seven months later, in January twenty twenty five, the police
Speaker 1: raided Laura's family home in Arizona to serve a search warrant.
Speaker 1: By that summer, she was indicted in Arizona on seven
Speaker 1: felony charges. That's the criminal system, you know, the one
Speaker 1: that sentences people to prison. Here's Clayton.
Speaker 2: I hope for justice to be served, and to me,
Speaker 2: what that looks like is her going to prison no
Speaker 2: matter what she's faced. Up until this point, she has
Speaker 2: not once said you know what, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Even after seven felony charges, Lauras still decided to renew
Speaker 1: her domestic violence restraining order against Mike Marriccini. This one
Speaker 1: in the San Francisco court system. It's a civil case,
Speaker 1: but for Mike it's a legal battle. He's been fighting
Speaker 1: for almost ten years. And while she battled Mike and court,
Speaker 1: the prosecutors in Arizona weren't quite done with her yet.
Speaker 1: Their investigation had uncovered more.
Speaker 2: What we know is coming down the pipeline is bigger
Speaker 2: than anything she could ever imagine, and bigger than any
Speaker 2: of us could ever imagine.
Speaker 1: I'm Stephanie Young and this is love trapped.
Speaker 3: Taty.
Speaker 1: At the end of the last episode we left off,
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, Laura Owens filed to renew her domestic
Speaker 1: violence restraining order against Mike Marriuccini, But this time Mike
Speaker 1: had secured legal counsel and was ready to fight back.
Speaker 1: The evidentiary hearing was slated for October twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: and I flew to San Francisco to be in the
Speaker 1: courtroom the night before the hearing was set to start,
Speaker 1: someone in Laura's camp emailed Mike's attorney, Omar Serrato. Omar
Speaker 1: and Mike thought Laura was agreeing to drop the DVRO renewal,
Speaker 1: but twelve minutes later they found out that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1: Here's Omar.
Speaker 4: There was like that surreal moment where you have all
Speaker 4: this adrenaline and then it's over, but the adrenaline's still
Speaker 4: there and you're trying to like calm down. Mike is crying,
Speaker 4: and he's like raising his arms and triumphant hugs all around,
Speaker 4: and then I get this mysterious email come through my phone.
Speaker 1: In the email, Laura requested a zoom link for the
Speaker 1: next day's hearing, which Omar expected she would need to
Speaker 1: agree to the deal in front of the judge, but
Speaker 1: she also asked for a zoom link for her former
Speaker 1: attorney and nurse practitioner. That didn't make sense. If she
Speaker 1: planned to dismiss the case, why did they need to
Speaker 1: be present.
Speaker 4: Everybody's still in celebration mode, and so I'm like trying
Speaker 4: to sitting on that for five minutes, like what does
Speaker 4: this mean? And then I emailed her, Hey, Laura, my
Speaker 4: understanding was we had agreement.
Speaker 3: Is that's still the case?
Speaker 4: And then like ten minutes later, No, we don't have
Speaker 4: an agreement. That was it just a one liner. And
Speaker 4: then I had to break the news to Mike, Hey,
Speaker 4: is this still one But he took that remarkably well.
Speaker 4: It was like, well, if I get game on, then
Speaker 4: I guess back to the original plan.
Speaker 1: I arrived at the San Francisco Superior Courthouse early on
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, October twenty first. The hearing was scheduled for
Speaker 1: nine am. It wasn't long before a familiar face joined me.
Speaker 1: Clayton Eckered. He traveled to San Francisco just for this hearing.
Speaker 2: I am in San Francisco for the first time of
Speaker 2: my life. I'm here to support Mike. I'm here because
Speaker 2: he shut up for me, and that was it. No
Speaker 2: matter what happens, no matter what the outcome is, I'm
Speaker 2: here to show Mike that I appreciate him.
Speaker 5: That's it.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I can pause all this shit in my
Speaker 2: life right now, because honestly, this is more important than
Speaker 2: all that.
Speaker 1: When Clayton had his family court trial against Laura the
Speaker 1: previous year, the courthouse in Arizona was filled with his supporters,
Speaker 1: including the content creators who'd been covering his story. Now
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, that same energy surrounded Mike outside the
Speaker 1: courthouse that morning. I ran into journalist Megan Fox.
Speaker 6: So I'm reporting out from in front of the Superior
Speaker 6: Court in California and San Francisco. We're gonna wait for
Speaker 6: Laura Owens to up here by Zoom. We think maybe
Speaker 6: or maybe she's not gonna show up at all. We're
Speaker 6: not sure, but we're gonna go in and find out.
Speaker 7: We're all here. Where is she?
Speaker 1: What do you think is gonna happen today?
Speaker 6: God, it's one of three things. It's gonna get dismissed
Speaker 6: because she doesn't show up. Secondly, it could be continued.
Speaker 6: It's possible she could show up and argue for continuance.
Speaker 6: And the third option is that we fight it out.
Speaker 8: There's a trial, they're open.
Speaker 3: Should we go in?
Speaker 7: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: We all piled into the small courtroom. I sat next
Speaker 1: to Clayton. Since it's a domestic violence related proceeding, audio
Speaker 1: recording is not allowed in the courtroom, but I took
Speaker 1: plenty of notes, so let me summarize. Laura joins by
Speaker 1: Zoom along with her former attorney David Jingris, although Jingers
Speaker 1: clarified that he was there as a witness, not as
Speaker 1: Laura's counsel, because Laura is the petitioner in this case.
Speaker 1: The judge told her that she needed to be there
Speaker 1: in person, but Laura refutes this and says she thought
Speaker 1: it was only strongly suggested that she be there in person.
Speaker 1: The judge agreed to pick up the hearing the following day,
Speaker 1: but when they did, she said Laura needed to be
Speaker 1: in the courtroom, no exceptions. If she wasn't there, the
Speaker 1: case would be dismissed. Laura said she would try her
Speaker 1: best to be in San Francisco the following day. After that,
Speaker 1: the judge moved on to another case. There were so
Speaker 1: many people there to see what would happen, so much
Speaker 1: anticipation and build up, all to be told come back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: After the hearing, I caught up with Mike Marriccini and
Speaker 1: his wife Danielle. I'm harry you guys, feeling anxious, anxious.
Speaker 3: J just chraates chaos. It's always chaotic.
Speaker 9: There's nothing that's ever just.
Speaker 1: Did you expect the judge to be that hard on her?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I did, because she told Laura she had to
Speaker 10: be here in person, so I'm not surprised by the
Speaker 10: judge playing hardball.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for tomorrow now?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm ready.
Speaker 9: I personally don't think she's gonna show up, but I'm ready.
Speaker 1: I asked Mike what it was like to have Clayton there.
Speaker 9: It was great to see Clayton. I told him he
Speaker 9: did not need to come, like, don't waste money on
Speaker 9: a plane ticket, and he said, Mike, you supported me
Speaker 9: for the June tenth hearing, Like this is the least
Speaker 9: I could do.
Speaker 5: I want to be there to support you.
Speaker 1: I joined Clayton, Mike, and Danielle for lunch that afternoon.
Speaker 1: This was my first time finally sitting down with Mike
Speaker 1: and Danielle face to face, and spirits were surprisingly high.
Speaker 1: Here's Mike.
Speaker 9: Going into day two, I was like, Okay, this is
Speaker 9: going to condense the entire trial to one day, but
Speaker 9: we can knock this out. My team still felt very confident,
Speaker 9: which is one day instead of two days, so I
Speaker 9: still felt good going into day two.
Speaker 1: I returned to the San Francisco Superior Courthouse the next morning. Yes,
Speaker 1: I just did this the day before. What I didn't
Speaker 1: know at the time is that we'd all be doing
Speaker 1: it again. When I arrived, I found Megan Fox already
Speaker 1: at work live streaming, joined virtually by Dave Neil. The
Speaker 1: question of the day Wouldlaura show up? Because of her
Speaker 1: seven felony indictments, she needs to ask the courts for
Speaker 1: permission to leave the state of Arizona. As far as
Speaker 1: anyone knew, she hadn't done that. That's what Dave and
Speaker 1: Meghan were talking about on that live stream outside the courthouse.
Speaker 11: So you're waiting for the trial to start. What are
Speaker 11: the odds that Laura shows up?
Speaker 6: Uh, she's not coming.
Speaker 12: Zero.
Speaker 6: She did not file for permission from the prosecutor in
Speaker 6: Maricopa County to come, and she has to do that.
Speaker 6: She can't leave the state without permission from the prosecutor.
Speaker 6: Court was going forward whether or not Laura was here,
Speaker 6: and I did want her to know that we're covering
Speaker 6: this case. Whether she shows up or not, we're all
Speaker 6: going to be here, and I think it's important. We've
Speaker 6: been following this case for how long day? Two years
Speaker 6: now too?
Speaker 11: Yeah, sure, And I actually wanted Laura to be there
Speaker 11: because I wanted Mike to be able to face her
Speaker 11: and come out of victorious. But what's your feeling assuming
Speaker 11: she isn't there, she's going to what just have to
Speaker 11: drop it? Will she then make any excuse that she
Speaker 11: I didn't want to drop it.
Speaker 3: But she did.
Speaker 6: She doesn't show up today, I have a feeling that
Speaker 6: the judge will dismiss it.
Speaker 11: With regards to the sort of vibes with Mike and Clayton,
Speaker 11: who was there yesterday? What's is Mike's family there, how
Speaker 11: are they feeling? What's the update with that.
Speaker 6: Mike's wife is here? She is feeling very frustrated. She
Speaker 6: said to me yesterday we have children, real babies at
Speaker 6: home that need us, and she would just rather not
Speaker 6: be here. And Laura's wasting everyone's time. Laura's the one
Speaker 6: who brought this. She needs to show up and fight
Speaker 6: her case. You can't file something and then decide at
Speaker 6: the last minute you don't want it. This is where
Speaker 6: the fight is, Laura. You should have shown up, you
Speaker 6: wanted it. Where's your evidence, she says, she has evidence,
Speaker 6: So come and make your case in front of Judge Gold.
Speaker 1: When we got there that morning, we were all waiting
Speaker 1: in the hallway, Me, Clayton, Mike, Danielle and Mike's legal team.
Speaker 1: Besides us, there were twenty or thirty people packed into
Speaker 1: the hallway. They were strangers to Mike, but told me
Speaker 1: they'd been following Justice for Clayton online and came to
Speaker 1: support Mike in person. And the demographic of supporters was
Speaker 1: surprisingly diverse, young people, older people, men, and women. The
Speaker 1: hearing was supposed to start at nine am, but nine
Speaker 1: am came and went, and the doors didn't open. The
Speaker 1: group started to become tense. No one knew what was
Speaker 1: going on. At around nine thirty am, the bailiff finally
Speaker 1: opened the doors, but only allowed Mike and Omar to
Speaker 1: enter the courtroom. Everyone looked confused. Ten minutes later, Mike
Speaker 1: and Omar came back out. Mike was in tears. He
Speaker 1: went over to Danielle and they left the building. I
Speaker 1: didn't have a chance to speak with them. Later, Mike
Speaker 1: explained what happened in his closed door meeting with the judge.
Speaker 9: We walk in and Laura's up on the screen and
Speaker 9: she was in a car, and she's kind of like
Speaker 9: just like a laughing spark on her face, like, Oh,
Speaker 9: I got you guys again. So I immediately sat down
Speaker 9: knowing something was wrong because the judge told her to
Speaker 9: be there in person the day before and she's up
Speaker 9: on the screen. Confidence is can to be with her
Speaker 9: with her smirk, and the judge says, we receive some
Speaker 9: information about an eightya. We are going to be continuing
Speaker 9: the court date, and they use a lot of other
Speaker 9: legal jargon.
Speaker 1: In between an EIGHTYA. Laura filed a formal request for
Speaker 1: accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's a federal
Speaker 1: civil rights law that all courts are obliged to comply with.
Speaker 9: We asked if we could essentially argue this eightya accommodation
Speaker 9: and the judge is like, no, it's already been processed.
Speaker 9: We're going to be pushing court to November fifth.
Speaker 1: In other words, they all thought it would be over,
Speaker 1: but by filing for an EIGHTYA accommodation request, the deadline
Speaker 1: was pushed back by another two weeks.
Speaker 9: I walk out of the courtroom. I'm emotional, I'm crying,
Speaker 9: and I talked with my wife immediately, and I talked
Speaker 9: with Clayton, I think right after that, and Clayton was
Speaker 9: like the first line of defense. He said, she's just
Speaker 9: delaying the inevitable. She knows she's going to lose this.
Speaker 9: You have to stay strong. You cannot give up now,
Speaker 9: You've come too far. And my attorney said the same thing.
Speaker 9: And I was just upset with the court system that
Speaker 9: day and the justice system, said I just want to
Speaker 9: go home and spend time with my family because it's
Speaker 9: what's going to make me.
Speaker 5: Happy right now.
Speaker 1: Later I asked Danielle mary Chini about this moment. Like Mike,
Speaker 1: she'd been expecting this day to finally be the end
Speaker 1: of Laura's domestic violence restraining order.
Speaker 10: It was re traumatizing, quite frankly, and I thought, we're
Speaker 10: going to be let down again, and she's going to
Speaker 10: win again again, and we will have to deal with
Speaker 10: the consequences of a permanent restraining order for the rest
Speaker 10: of our lives.
Speaker 1: After Mike and Danielle left the courthouse that day, I
Speaker 1: sat down with Clayton to process what just happened.
Speaker 2: I'm pissed because I first saw Mike walk out of
Speaker 2: the courtroom and tears in his eyes, and you know
Speaker 2: where those tears are coming from. It's six plus years
Speaker 2: that this man has had to endure, and I feel
Speaker 2: for him because I've went through two years of my
Speaker 2: own and so it is really frustrating because you just want.
Speaker 3: It to be done.
Speaker 1: Clayton knows better than anyone else what it feels like
Speaker 1: to try to prove his innocence against Laura Owens.
Speaker 2: Laura thinks she's one today. I don't see that at
Speaker 2: all as a win. This is another unification of all
Speaker 2: of us to be together and to further be driven
Speaker 2: to see this through. Like all she did was light
Speaker 2: a fire. And if you think that we're all just
Speaker 2: going to go, oh and we lost, and we're gonna
Speaker 2: all like, no, I have a renewed sense of fire.
Speaker 2: I know everyone that's here has a renewed sense of fire.
Speaker 2: And we are winning.
Speaker 1: Clayton was determined to see this thing through. He'd recently
Speaker 1: gotten a phone call from one of the state investigators
Speaker 1: in Arizona. The criminal case against Laura Owens wasn't finished yet.
Speaker 2: He had called me and said, look, what Laura doesn't
Speaker 2: realize is what we've found out about her and the
Speaker 2: things that we have uncovered. The paternity scandal is the
Speaker 2: least of her worries.
Speaker 1: In October twenty twenty five, Mike Marriccini and his legal
Speaker 1: team prepared for an evidentiary hearing on Laura's domestic violence
Speaker 1: restraining order renewal. This had nothing to do with her
Speaker 1: criminal case in Arizona. She'd been charged with multiple felonies
Speaker 1: five months prior, but the DVRO renewal was an entirely
Speaker 1: separate legal matter in another state. After a dramatic back
Speaker 1: and forth in their first scheduled hearing, Laura filed a
Speaker 1: disability accommodation request with the San Francisco Superior Court, citing
Speaker 1: the Americans with Disabilities Act. It's the kind of filing
Speaker 1: the courts are obligated to take seriously. Here's Mike's attorney, Omarcerato.
Speaker 4: Nobody was expecting an ADA request to supersede everything, but
Speaker 4: it does in California. You don't fuck with ADA law.
Speaker 4: Mike needs to win this on the merits. He cannot
Speaker 4: have this lost on an EIGHTA violation.
Speaker 1: And it pushed the DVRO hearing date back by two weeks.
Speaker 1: You might be wondering what disability Laura claimed to have.
Speaker 1: We weren't privy to what she said in the closed
Speaker 1: door meeting with the judge, but Laura submitted a filing
Speaker 1: to the court explaining her medical situation. I've had a
Speaker 1: voice actor read from it.
Speaker 13: Attached as exhibit A is a letter dated October seventeenth,
Speaker 13: twenty twenty five, from doctor Colleen Green, a medical provider
Speaker 13: I have been seeing since September twenty twenty four. Doctor
Speaker 13: Green states that participating in the hearing next week quote
Speaker 13: would be life threatening for her end quote because of
Speaker 13: the combined psychiatric and physical decline. This new evidence unavailable
Speaker 13: when the court previously ruled, directly REBTs any assumption that
Speaker 13: I am capable of safely participating in a contested proceeding
Speaker 13: at this time. In addition to doctor Green's findings, my
Speaker 13: other treating medical providers have diagnosed extreme anorexia following a
Speaker 13: fifty pound weight loss accompanied by gastro intestinal bleeding following
Speaker 13: multiple episodes of vomiting blood. My treating physicians advised that
Speaker 13: urgent gastro intestinal testing and specialist evaluation were medically necessary.
Speaker 13: I was referred for a specialist consultation scheduled for October
Speaker 13: twenty second, which was the earliest available date for the
Speaker 13: required procedures. The overlap with the hearing date is entirely unavoidable,
Speaker 13: as the appointment was made immediately upon referral for a
Speaker 13: very serious condition. Postponing this appointment could delay essential diagnostics
Speaker 13: for several weeks and significantly increase the risk of further bleeding,
Speaker 13: worsening anemia, and medical destabilization.
Speaker 1: Translation, the earliest day the doctor could perform a procedure
Speaker 1: for a life threatening medical emergency was the very day
Speaker 1: of trial, October twenty second. The judge issued a continuance,
Speaker 1: meaning come back in two weeks and we'll do this again.
Speaker 1: So I left San Francisco and flew home. A week later,
Speaker 1: my phone started blowing up. It was news about Laura.
Speaker 1: Journalist Megan Fox was doing a YouTube live when she
Speaker 1: saw a comment pop up.
Speaker 6: I'm reading my comments and I see just one little
Speaker 6: sentence that says.
Speaker 14: She was at a horse show.
Speaker 1: Megan decided to investigate. It turns out there was an
Speaker 1: equestrian competition happening in Arizona that very week, the Scottsdale
Speaker 1: Fall Classic.
Speaker 6: I go to the website, the Scottsdale Fall Classic. The
Speaker 6: website and I go immediately I'm looking for the awards.
Speaker 1: I type in her name.
Speaker 6: Sure, shit, there she is winning awards after she was
Speaker 6: supposed to be in court. And she said she was
Speaker 6: bleeding internally and needed a blood transfusion.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, Megan in the online community even uncovered footage
Speaker 1: of Laura Owen competing.
Speaker 8: Low Chillers Low and el Hutter.
Speaker 15: With Laura Owens the odd.
Speaker 1: Laura earned three first place finishes and won one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars. There's a photo of her on her horse.
Speaker 1: She has a huge smile on her face and she's
Speaker 1: draped in a championship ribbon. When the online community saw this,
Speaker 1: they flew off the handle. Dave Neil made this video
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 11: She was actually caught by some of our audience members
Speaker 11: competing in a horse race this weekend. Why is this interesting, Well,
Speaker 11: it's interesting because Laura claims she suffers from PTSD and
Speaker 11: extreme inorexia and all these other issues, which may or
Speaker 11: may not be true. I don't know, but if you're
Speaker 11: really sick, shouldn't you not be on a horse competing?
Speaker 1: It was so brazen. When I interviewed Dave, I asked
Speaker 1: him what he made of Laura in the horse show.
Speaker 1: I think she just lives on the day to day.
Speaker 11: She's like, let's just get through this court thing and
Speaker 11: then tomorrow will jump horses, and she doesn't even try
Speaker 11: to hide it.
Speaker 1: You can imagine how offensive this was to Mike Marraccini
Speaker 1: and his wife, Danielle. They'd spent thousands of dollars to
Speaker 1: go to San Francisco for the hearing, booking hotels and
Speaker 1: arranging overnight childcare for their two daughters, only to have
Speaker 1: Laura file the EIGHTYA request and push the date back
Speaker 1: another two weeks. Danielle Marraccini was livid.
Speaker 10: I can't even put into words the level of anger.
Speaker 10: I try to steer clear of those emotions because they
Speaker 10: will rot you from the inside out. But seeing her
Speaker 10: in those videos, I felt like she was just laughing
Speaker 10: in my face, like haha, fuck you, Like she was
Speaker 10: making a mockery of my pain and my husband's pain.
Speaker 9: She thinks that she can keep getting away with it
Speaker 9: and there's no repercussions, and she also thinks we're all
Speaker 9: too stupid to find out like the actual truth.
Speaker 1: A week later, Mike was due back at the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Superior Courthouse. I boarded a flight to meet him there.
Speaker 1: It felt like deja vus once again. Laura was ordered
Speaker 1: to be there in person if she didn't show it
Speaker 1: might finally be the end of her restraining order against Mike.
Speaker 1: When I arrived in San Francisco, the chaos had already begun.
Speaker 1: Here's Rachel Warrez, one of Mike's attorneys.
Speaker 16: I was literally in an uber on the way to
Speaker 16: the airport. The emails between Laura and the court started
Speaker 16: going rapid fire, and Laura started sending emails saying I
Speaker 16: am not coming. I called Omar from the uber and said,
Speaker 16: should I just turn around and not come? There was
Speaker 16: this chaos. That's what she does, She creates chaos.
Speaker 1: Earlier that day, the court emailed both parties. They said
Speaker 1: there was a high likelihood that a court reporter would
Speaker 1: not be available for their hearing.
Speaker 16: Unfortunately, we've been dealing with a court reporter shortage in
Speaker 16: a lot of the state courts in California for many years.
Speaker 16: It's really a resource issue.
Speaker 1: Laura tried to make this into a bigger deal than
Speaker 1: it was. Mike's team retained and paid for a court reporter,
Speaker 1: and the court approved it.
Speaker 4: The court just said, I just want to make it
Speaker 4: clear that the judge has not continued this. We're going
Speaker 4: forward as planned.
Speaker 1: It looked like the next morning there would be a
Speaker 1: hearing no matter what. That night they prepared for every
Speaker 1: possible scenario. Here's Mike's attorney, Rachel.
Speaker 16: We kind of tried to keep it a low key night,
Speaker 16: not do too much trio prep. But again we went
Speaker 16: back to what if the judge says, okay, I'll let
Speaker 16: her appear by zoom. What if she zooms in from
Speaker 16: the hospital with a doctor there saying she's going into
Speaker 16: emergency surgery. Do we start getting into the horse show?
Speaker 16: Do we just let it go? What do we do?
Speaker 1: When Omar and Rachel woke up the next morning, their
Speaker 1: inbox was full of emails from Laura Owens.
Speaker 16: We wake up to an email the next morning from
Speaker 16: Laura saying I actually was coming, even though she had
Speaker 16: said the prior day she wasn't. My parents bought me
Speaker 16: a plane ticket at seven o'clock last night to come,
Speaker 16: and I'm in the hospital. I really was coming, I promise,
Speaker 16: I promise. But now I'm in the hospital and I
Speaker 16: might have to have a procedure and this and that,
Speaker 16: and so now I really obviously cannot come anymore.
Speaker 1: According to Laura in a declaration in support of motion
Speaker 1: to correct and augment the record in the early morning
Speaker 1: hours of November fifth, she experienced multiple episodes of vomiting blood.
Speaker 1: She alleged this was a life threatening recurrence of prior
Speaker 1: gastro intestinal bleeding, and that she was seeking medical care
Speaker 1: at a hospital in Arizona.
Speaker 4: We get another email at six fifty three am, Laura
Speaker 4: emailing the court, just letting them know, Hey, so unfortunately
Speaker 4: I've had these two life threatening medical occurrences. I'm going
Speaker 4: to be forced to go into the er, and they've
Speaker 4: scheduled me for a procedure which I will be under anesthesia.
Speaker 4: So obviously I'm not going to be present for court
Speaker 4: this morning. I hope the Court will take this into
Speaker 4: consideration and find good calls to continue our proceedings. I
Speaker 4: didn't respond to that. The Court just said, thank you, Laura,
Speaker 4: we've received what you've sent us.
Speaker 1: In that same declaration, Laura said her physicians didn't expect
Speaker 1: her to be released until the following day, so she
Speaker 1: wasn't showing up. She'd pulled something like this once already.
Speaker 1: The question was would they give her another continuance like
Speaker 1: they had two weeks prior.
Speaker 4: And so Judge has had now experience with Laura and
Speaker 4: her ability to lie and conjure up these emergencies and
Speaker 4: try to delay things so they're no longer taking her seriously.
Speaker 4: So me and Rachel were like, there's no fucking way
Speaker 4: they're going to continue this, right, There can't be so again.
Speaker 16: It kind of turns what is already a stressful trial
Speaker 16: morning into a total circus.
Speaker 1: On the morning of November fifth, the hearing was still
Speaker 1: on the court docket. Even if Laura didn't show up,
Speaker 1: the result of the hearing needed to be on the record,
Speaker 1: and if she didn't show up, there was a good
Speaker 1: chance the renewal request would be dismissed, the restraining order
Speaker 1: would be over. But she'd been clinging onto this for
Speaker 1: almost ten years. It was her last connection to Mike.
Speaker 1: Would she really missed this hearing? We all headed to
Speaker 1: the courthouse that morning as planned. I'd been there two
Speaker 1: weeks ago and I knew seating would be tight, so
Speaker 1: I got there on the early side seven am. By
Speaker 1: the time I arrived, there was already a group of
Speaker 1: supporters gathered outside the courthouse, and the crowd kept growing
Speaker 1: by the minute. I ended up standing in line with
Speaker 1: content creator Lauren Nighty.
Speaker 8: We're outside the courthouse in San Francisco because Laura's supposed
Speaker 8: to show up for her DVRO renewal with Mike today,
Speaker 8: but it seems unlikely. It's raining a little bit, so
Speaker 8: we're just standing out here waiting because it doesn't open
Speaker 8: till eight fifteen, and there's a line. Last time she
Speaker 8: didn't show up, so we weren't sure how early we'd
Speaker 8: have to get here.
Speaker 1: Do you think she's going to show up today?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 7: Why?
Speaker 8: I think that she knows what she's doing, and she's
Speaker 8: now in a position where there are consequences for these
Speaker 8: actions for the first time in her life.
Speaker 17: If she were to.
Speaker 8: Show up and take the stand and tell her lies,
Speaker 8: you know, she's very calculated. She knows that she can't
Speaker 8: show up here today and do what she normally does,
Speaker 8: or else she might end up in an unfamiliar territory
Speaker 8: like she already is with the criminal trial pending. So
Speaker 8: I don't think that she's going to do that.
Speaker 1: Do you think that it we'll get dismissed today if
Speaker 1: she doesn't show up?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I do.
Speaker 8: The judge is pretty clear. Last time.
Speaker 1: The courthouse doors opened, and what happened next felt like
Speaker 1: an exact repeat of two weeks prior. Here's Mike's attorney, Omar.
Speaker 4: We get there, it's nine o'clock, and then it's nine
Speaker 4: oh five, and then it's nine point fifteen, and then
Speaker 4: it's like nine.
Speaker 1: Omar started prepping Mike for what might happen once they
Speaker 1: got in the courtroom.
Speaker 4: I was telling Mike, listen to me, you need to
Speaker 4: prepare yourself for anything, Okay, because for all I know
Speaker 4: that we're in there with a judge right now going
Speaker 4: over whatever medical documents that she has that she wants
Speaker 4: to show the judge. Just ready yourself in the event
Speaker 4: this is a continuance, not to dismissal. I'm trying to
Speaker 4: just prep them for that because last time we weren't
Speaker 4: ready for that.
Speaker 1: When the courtroom doors finally opened, Mike looked like he
Speaker 1: was in good spirits, but he later admitted to me
Speaker 1: that he had a bad feeling.
Speaker 9: We were pretty pessimistic, just based off the fact that
Speaker 9: she was having emergency surgery. My wife and I were
Speaker 9: convinced that it was going to be continued again and
Speaker 9: that Laura was going to get out of it and
Speaker 9: we were going to have to push the court datea
Speaker 9: another couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: We were finally allowed into the courtroom, and within minutes
Speaker 1: the hearing got underway. Due to the nature of the case,
Speaker 1: audio recording is not allowed in the courtroom, but I
Speaker 1: wish it was because I want you to hear what happened.
Speaker 18: Next judge calls us in. I think it was about
Speaker 18: a nine thirty issue or so. She makes it coming
Speaker 18: right away, say will it's nine thirty. Loura owns is
Speaker 18: not here, and right when she said it is like,
Speaker 18: holy shit, we got this, We got this.
Speaker 4: And then I relaxed, Rachel relaxed.
Speaker 16: I immediately tried to look over past Omar to Mike
Speaker 16: to see if he caught it, because to me, that
Speaker 16: was the moment.
Speaker 9: When she said this is going to be quick. That
Speaker 9: was the moment where the flip switched for me. I
Speaker 9: knew that she was going to dismiss it right there.
Speaker 1: I was sitting next to Mike's wife, Danielle. When it
Speaker 1: became clear what was happening. She grabbed my hand.
Speaker 10: I kind of blacked out. I remember grabbing your hand
Speaker 10: and like ecstatically shaking it with a clownish smile on
Speaker 10: my face. And I only got emotional when I saw him.
Speaker 7: I don't even think.
Speaker 10: Judge Gold had even gotten out, like this is dismissed,
Speaker 10: and I could see the tears like rolling down his face,
Speaker 10: and that was the moment that then I like burst
Speaker 10: into tears.
Speaker 1: After two eight hundred and fifty seven days, Laura's domestic
Speaker 1: violence restraining order against Mike Marruccini was finally dismissed. As
Speaker 1: the dismissal was announced, a round of applause broke out
Speaker 1: in the courtroom. I've seen a lot of hearings and trials,
Speaker 1: I'd never witnessed anything like that before.
Speaker 10: And then we were quickly moved into the hallway right
Speaker 10: after clapping, and Judge Gold looking at us like we
Speaker 10: were a bunch of weirdos, like what is going on here?
Speaker 7: But yeah, it's just so.
Speaker 10: Much relief and inexplayable joy that we did it.
Speaker 5: We did it.
Speaker 1: As we exited the courtroom, we all noticed that the
Speaker 1: weather outside had abruptly shifted. Here's omar.
Speaker 4: It was a cloudy, rainy, cold, windy day in downtown
Speaker 4: San Francisco. The clouds were hovering, it was gloomy. There
Speaker 4: was no sunshine whatsoever. And we walk out the sun
Speaker 4: is beaming through the windows. The clouds have cleared and
Speaker 4: all of the sunshine rays and everybody's happy in the jubilation,
Speaker 4: and this time it's tears of Outside.
Speaker 1: The courthouse, I was able to catch up with Mike
Speaker 1: and Danielle. I just want you to tell me immediately
Speaker 1: off about what happened in there today.
Speaker 19: Laura did not show up. She tried to throw out
Speaker 19: medical emergencies, saying she was having a surgery, and the
Speaker 19: judge dismissed it. And it is such a relief because
Speaker 19: coming into today, I truthfully thought the judge was going
Speaker 19: to continue it and I thought we were going to
Speaker 19: be back at square one, and so I just feel
Speaker 19: really really.
Speaker 20: I feel really really good because this has been such
Speaker 20: a long time coming. I've been fighting for almost ten
Speaker 20: years and I've had the support of everybody. That's the
Speaker 20: only reason why I've been able to get through this.
Speaker 20: For my wife, to my attorneys, Sidney, entire group of
Speaker 20: supporters like I would have never been able to do
Speaker 20: this without everybody, and.
Speaker 3: I'm so fortunate.
Speaker 1: Do you think that she's going to try to appeal this.
Speaker 19: She loves us.
Speaker 1: Danielle, I want to talk to you for a second.
Speaker 1: Tell me about how you were feeling last time when
Speaker 1: we left, as compared to this time and what you
Speaker 1: were feeling in the courtroom.
Speaker 10: Last time, a lot of defeat, anger, frustration, hatred, I mean,
Speaker 10: the whole gamut of the emotional wheel. This time, I
Speaker 10: feel relief, but I know that we're still going to
Speaker 10: be fighting her with appeals, that this isn't over until
Speaker 10: justice is served in Arizona. I'm confident in this community
Speaker 10: to continue to push for the truth and what is right,
Speaker 10: and I know that this group of individuals won't let
Speaker 10: her get away with this again.
Speaker 1: Relieved to have the day behind them, Mike and Danielle
Speaker 1: headed home to be with their daughters. I took some
Speaker 1: time to debrief with Mike's legal team and the content
Speaker 1: creators who'd made the trip to San Francisco. But before
Speaker 1: I made it back to my hotel, my phone started
Speaker 1: buzzing with a FaceTime request. It was from my sister.
Speaker 1: She never facetimes me. We live in the same city,
Speaker 1: so anxiously I picked up the call. That's when she
Speaker 1: told me she was eight weeks pregnant with her first child.
Speaker 1: The timing of the news while I was covering this
Speaker 1: case wasn't lost on me. My sister and I both
Speaker 1: started crying happy tears. It's a moment I'll never forget,
Speaker 1: and without me even asking, she showed me her very
Speaker 1: real sonogram. It's really that easy. The next day, I
Speaker 1: had an afternoon flight to Phoenix to catch up with Clayton.
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful morning, and before my flight, I
Speaker 1: was planning to go take a walk near the Golden
Speaker 1: Gate Bridge. But those plans got interrupted by a text
Speaker 1: message from Mike Marcini. He just heard some big news.
Speaker 1: It wasn't about his case, though, it was an update
Speaker 1: from the prosecutors in Arizona. They brought more criminal charges
Speaker 1: against Laura Owens.
Speaker 21: I thought you probably knew before I did, and so
Speaker 21: I was expecting you to just be like, already no.
Speaker 21: But I'm glad that I finally gave you some breaking news.
Speaker 1: Before I left San Francisco, I got a text from
Speaker 1: Mike Marriccini he just heard some breaking news about Laura Owens.
Speaker 9: I received a text that she had been indicted with
Speaker 9: seven more charges.
Speaker 1: The day after the domestic violence restraining order was dismissed
Speaker 1: November sixth, twenty twenty five, the State of Arizona indicted
Speaker 1: Laura Michelle Owens on another seven felony charges, bringing the
Speaker 1: total to fourteen.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I was running a high for a solid forty
Speaker 9: eight hours.
Speaker 1: Almost immediately it was being reported on by news outlets
Speaker 1: and YouTubers like Dave Neil.
Speaker 14: I thought it was groundhokx. I said, why is everybody
Speaker 14: sending me old news?
Speaker 11: I already know she's been indicted, and they said no,
Speaker 11: she's indicted on more.
Speaker 1: The Scottsdale woman is facing seven new felony charges in
Speaker 1: addition to the seven she was indicted on.
Speaker 10: Back in May.
Speaker 1: She gets facing fourteen felony charges in total. For two
Speaker 1: cases the.
Speaker 12: Miracle Pa County Attorney's Offices, Owen's falsely claimed she was
Speaker 12: pregnant by someone who she went on three dates with
Speaker 12: back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 5: This thing just gets stranger and stranger.
Speaker 1: The first batch of charges were all related to Clayton,
Speaker 1: but as the Maricopa County Attorney's Office investigated his case,
Speaker 1: they uncovered evidence of more potential criminal behavior. The new
Speaker 1: seven felony counts are all tied to Laura's brief relationship
Speaker 1: with Greg Gillespie. Remember Greg is the man she met
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. In Scottsdale. You heard about him
Speaker 1: in episode five. After a few dates and hookups, Laura
Speaker 1: claimed to be pregnant with twins, shortly after she brought
Speaker 1: an abortion coercion case against Greg. Some of these new
Speaker 1: indictments are similar to Clayton's perjury, forgery, fraudulent schemes and artifices,
Speaker 1: but ifew reveal new information and even identify another victim
Speaker 1: of Laura's. There are two class four felony charges related
Speaker 1: to a sonogram image Laura sent to Greg. Laura said
Speaker 1: it was her own sonogram, but according to the state,
Speaker 1: Laura stole it from a woman named Stormy. Remember that
Speaker 1: sonogram we talked about with the Fiver logo.
Speaker 22: It says Fiver, Oh yeah, Oh hold on, hold okay,
Speaker 22: hold on, hold on.
Speaker 11: This is why you do it live.
Speaker 1: According to the state investigation, a woman named Stormy originally
Speaker 1: posted that sonogram on her personal blog. In twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: the Maricopa County Investigators interviewed Stormy. She told them she
Speaker 1: started her blog in twenty eleven to help her cope
Speaker 1: with grief after a stillbirth. She didn't know anyone outside
Speaker 1: of her family and friends were viewing the blog until
Speaker 1: Internet detectives reached out to her and told her a
Speaker 1: woman named Laura Owens was passing the saunogram image off
Speaker 1: as her own. The investigator summarized their interview with Stormy, writing.
Speaker 14: Stormy said that it's caused anxiety and fear. She fears
Speaker 14: that people are going to be able to find her.
Speaker 14: Stormy continued by telling us that by the little things
Speaker 14: that she's found out about Laura, she's afraid that she's
Speaker 14: going to be able to find her and hurt her family.
Speaker 1: There are another two charges related to identity fraud and forgery.
Speaker 1: It appears Laura forged a medical document assuming the identity
Speaker 1: of a real physician's assistant at One Medical named Lisa Daniels.
Speaker 1: In August twenty twenty one, Laura sent Greg Gillespie a
Speaker 1: screenshot allegedly from her one Medical patient portal. It appeared
Speaker 1: to have a doctor's note on it, signed by Lisa Daniels.
Speaker 1: We've had this note read by a voice actor.
Speaker 23: Hi, Laura, thank you for coming in today. Based on
Speaker 23: your physical examination and reviewing your test results, urine and ultrasounds,
Speaker 23: both from in our office and with outside providers, we
Speaker 23: can confirm that your pregnancy is viable and consistent with
Speaker 23: a date you provided of intercourse on June thirtieth or
Speaker 23: July first. A fetal heartbeat was detected. Since you took
Speaker 23: medical abortion pills, injury to the fetus is likely, but
Speaker 23: the extent of the damage is unknown at this point.
Speaker 23: Please seek care from an obstetrician going forward. I have
Speaker 23: followed up with Julie Alla Rich MP regarding the call
Speaker 23: she had with you and the father of the child
Speaker 23: on July sixteenth. She noted that he came off as
Speaker 23: a potential domestic abuser and remarked on his seemingly controlling
Speaker 23: and dominating behavior. She said that she was concerned for
Speaker 23: your well being and is happy to testify on your behalf.
Speaker 23: Please let us know if you require any additional information
Speaker 23: for your legal case. Best of luck, Lisa.
Speaker 1: Maricopa County investigators interviewed the real Lisa Daniels, who told
Speaker 1: them she did not author this note. The investigators asked
Speaker 1: if Daniels would be willing to help the prosecution, and
Speaker 1: she said yes. She also noted that she worried about
Speaker 1: retaliation from Laura Owens. There's another charge that's a bit cryptic,
Speaker 1: theft by extortion According to the State of Arizona, Laura.
Speaker 14: Michelle Owens knowingly obtained or sought to obtain property or
Speaker 14: services from Gregory Gillespie by means of a threat to
Speaker 14: accuse Gregory Glas. We have a crime or bring criminal
Speaker 14: charges against him.
Speaker 1: There are no additional details about this charge, so we
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what evidence the state gathered. The investigation
Speaker 1: report we've been quoting included information mostly about the first
Speaker 1: seven charges. That means more information could still come out,
Speaker 1: like evidence from Laura's devices. I asked Clayton what it
Speaker 1: felt like when he saw Laura charged in not only
Speaker 1: his case but also Gregg's.
Speaker 2: Another big old heaping scoop of justice being served and
Speaker 2: watching him get all the support online.
Speaker 5: I love it.
Speaker 2: This has become larger than me.
Speaker 1: At the time I'm recording this, no criminal charges have
Speaker 1: been brought in regard to Laura's relationship with Mike Marriccini.
Speaker 1: If she was ever to be charged in his case,
Speaker 1: it would likely be in California. On December second, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, Laura attended as scheduled pre trial hearing on
Speaker 1: her first seven charges. The state decided to tack a
Speaker 1: second arraignment onto that hearing, which we got the audio
Speaker 1: from Good Morning.
Speaker 24: Her anor Jeffrey Sworskift peering with miss Owens as to
Speaker 24: both matters.
Speaker 25: She is president in the courtroom and so I'm gonna
Speaker 25: get your name in data birthleas Laura Owens.
Speaker 1: In this hearing. Laura has a new criminal defense attorney.
Speaker 1: Two months earlier, Laura applied for indigency status, which means
Speaker 1: she was claiming she lacked the financial resources and needed
Speaker 1: court appointed assistants, and the state granted it. With the
Speaker 1: additional seven indictments. Her previous criminal attorney withdrew. That's how
Speaker 1: Laura Owens ended up being represented by a public defender,
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Swarsky.
Speaker 25: There has been a super being indictment filed. I've provided
Speaker 25: a copy to mister Swarsky. Mister Swarsky, did you have
Speaker 25: the opportunity to review that.
Speaker 5: With your client?
Speaker 25: Yes, I did, Your honor, Did you want me to
Speaker 25: conduct a not guilty arrangement today on her behalf food?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 25: Do you wave of reading the charges her rights?
Speaker 9: We will way formal reading and enterple of not guilty
Speaker 9: as to all charges.
Speaker 25: Well, enter a plea of not guilty on her behalf.
Speaker 1: Laura entered a plea of not guilty for the seven
Speaker 1: additional felony charges.
Speaker 25: Mister Schwarzki, since I have you here, have you received disclosure?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 24: In the last week, I have received approximately six thousand
Speaker 24: pages of disclosure in sixteen bodycam recordings.
Speaker 5: All right, thank you. We're in recessing this matter.
Speaker 1: All fourteen charges have been rolled into one case against
Speaker 1: Laura Owens. At this time, Laura's pled not guilty to
Speaker 1: all of the charges. So, like we said in the
Speaker 1: last episode, Laura's faced with two options, either go to
Speaker 1: trial or change her plea to guilty. The whole time,
Speaker 1: Laura still owed Clayton nearly two hundred thousand dollars for
Speaker 1: attorney's fees. That was by order of the Family Trial Court,
Speaker 1: the Arizona Court of Appeals, and the Arizona Supreme Court.
Speaker 1: As time passes, that number is collecting interest. I asked
Speaker 1: Greg Woodnick what usually happens in situations like these.
Speaker 12: Most people have jobs, and so it's a little bit
Speaker 12: easier to collect when you have a judgment, because what
Speaker 12: you do is you get a wage assignment order, a
Speaker 12: rid of garnishment. Essentially, that's an order that gets sent
Speaker 12: to someone's employer, Taco Bell, whoever they're working for, and
Speaker 12: that employer before they issue a paycheck to Laura would
Speaker 12: take part of that paycheck and it would essentially get
Speaker 12: routed to the judgment creditor in this case Clayton. But
Speaker 12: Laura didn't have a job, so we didn't have any
Speaker 12: place to issue wage assignment order.
Speaker 1: This is where we need to get technical. Because of
Speaker 1: the money Laura owed Clayton, Greg Woodennick scheduled something called
Speaker 1: a judgment debtors exam. It's basically a deposition, but all
Speaker 1: related to Laura's finances. I asked Woodnick to explain how
Speaker 1: judgment debtors exams usually work.
Speaker 5: It's kind of a phishing expedition.
Speaker 12: You're looking for assets or things that you can collect
Speaker 12: via the judgment. Maybe someone has a boat or a
Speaker 12: car or something that is not excluded from collection that
Speaker 12: you could, in theory, use to pay the debt.
Speaker 5: Of the debtor.
Speaker 1: In this case, Laura owed Clayton money. Wouldn't it planned
Speaker 1: to ask Laura about her assets like property, cars, horses,
Speaker 1: even LLCs.
Speaker 12: Obviously, my team had prepared for the judgment debtors exam
Speaker 12: gathered questions things that I wanted to know about her
Speaker 12: financial situation to determine if there was an avenue to
Speaker 12: collect for Clayton's judgments. On the eve of the judgment
Speaker 12: debtors exam in mary Copa County Superior Court, we receive
Speaker 12: notice that she had filed for Chapter seven bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: Chapter seven is basically a fast track bankruptcy. Think of
Speaker 1: it like a request for a fresh start. If it's granted,
Speaker 1: you might lose some non essential assets, but your debt
Speaker 1: is wiped out and you have a badly bruised credit score.
Speaker 1: As soon as Laura filed for bankruptcy, all debt collection
Speaker 1: proceedings halted. Before they could resume, Laura would have to
Speaker 1: appear in federal court for bankruptcy.
Speaker 12: My team was pretty disappointed when she filed the Chapter
Speaker 12: seven bankruptcy. We prepared to ask her questions about her
Speaker 12: assets and trying to figure out if there was a
Speaker 12: way for Clayton to get paid, because he deserved to
Speaker 12: get paid he had three judgments. But our disappointment changed
Speaker 12: because as soon as the federal government got involved, it
Speaker 12: was a whole new show. They were running the show,
Speaker 12: and they were doing their own inquiry regarding Laura's.
Speaker 5: Assets and her transparency. She opened a Pandora's.
Speaker 1: Box instead of doing a judgment debtors exam with Greg Woodnick.
Speaker 1: Laura had now opened up her finances to a federal
Speaker 1: court and a notoriously unforgiving one at that.
Speaker 26: All right, this is will call on the Laura Owens
Speaker 26: case case twenty five as one one eight zero one
Speaker 26: denner is present.
Speaker 1: In January twenty twenty six, Laura was ordered to appear
Speaker 1: at a meeting of creditors. It's kind of like a
Speaker 1: mini deposition. Anyone who she owes money can join this
Speaker 1: call to ask Laura about her finances, and she owed
Speaker 1: a lot of people money.
Speaker 26: We have a lot of interested parties in the meeting,
Speaker 26: but as far as I know, we're only going to
Speaker 26: have one ask any questions.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to go ahead and swear you in.
Speaker 1: Miss Owen's Obviously, her biggest creditor was Clayton Eckered.
Speaker 24: Marcus Reisinger appearing on behalf of Clayton Eckered a creditor
Speaker 24: in this matter.
Speaker 3: As I'd ask a few questions.
Speaker 1: Marcus is an associate at Woodennick Law. He started by
Speaker 1: asking Laura about her income and page two have.
Speaker 24: That statement asked, did you have any income during this
Speaker 24: year or the two previous calendar years?
Speaker 3: Why did you answer no?
Speaker 7: Because I personally do not have any income and have
Speaker 7: not for the last two years.
Speaker 24: Did you testify in June of twenty twenty four that
Speaker 24: you had approximately two hundred thousand dollars of the year
Speaker 24: per year of income with your business.
Speaker 7: Partner with my mother and that's all gone directly to
Speaker 7: the LLC. Nothing's been paid to me personally.
Speaker 1: One of those LLCs is the Owen's family's horse flipping business.
Speaker 1: Marcus asked her if they had any valuable assets like courses,
Speaker 1: for example.
Speaker 27: I have no assets.
Speaker 7: I know where you guys are getting at.
Speaker 27: I have literally zero assets.
Speaker 24: I'm just asking some questions, but I can understand your mistique,
Speaker 24: do you.
Speaker 7: I hope they don't have one? As you know this case?
Speaker 7: Is you I ability to make any income?
Speaker 15: I have none, and.
Speaker 7: I truly believe you guys are trying to embarrass me
Speaker 7: by trying to make that point.
Speaker 3: Again, I'm not trying to embarrass you.
Speaker 24: All in doing is asking questions to understand your bankruptcy estate.
Speaker 1: Despite her emotionality, Marcus continues questioning her about her bankruptcy filing.
Speaker 1: She claimed she didn't have any assets or any current income,
Speaker 1: but this contradicted a sworn testimony Laura gave the year prior.
Speaker 24: Last question, simony is that you have not had any
Speaker 24: income in the.
Speaker 3: Past two years.
Speaker 27: No, I have not.
Speaker 3: Can you understand that you're under a.
Speaker 7: Tell me where the money is? Then, I haven't made
Speaker 7: any money.
Speaker 24: The only reason I'm asking is because you did testify
Speaker 24: numerous occasions in twenty twenty four that you had income
Speaker 24: at that time.
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
Speaker 7: That I had businesses with my mom.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was less than two years ago.
Speaker 7: Correct, that I had businesses with my mom. My expenses
Speaker 7: have been paid for for living by my parents.
Speaker 27: That's where I've.
Speaker 7: Gotten my in exchange.
Speaker 1: I want to play you a clip from Woodnick's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four deposition with Laura. It's the same deposition you
Speaker 1: heard in episode six.
Speaker 5: What is your current employment?
Speaker 7: I do a lot of things.
Speaker 28: I have a podcast, I buy and sell horses, and
Speaker 28: I have a real estate investing company.
Speaker 5: Do you earn income as a W two employee anywhere?
Speaker 28: I do not.
Speaker 12: Let's talk about the podcast first. What's the name of
Speaker 12: the podcast, and what is the theme of that podcast?
Speaker 7: Self help, self improvement?
Speaker 5: Are you the owner of the podcast?
Speaker 12: And that may not be a good question, So if
Speaker 12: you don't answer, I don't take another shot at it.
Speaker 28: I'm I guess co owner of it. I know where
Speaker 28: you're Yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 5: Who's the other co owner? If there's another person?
Speaker 15: My mom?
Speaker 5: Are you making money with the podcast?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 12: How much money are you earning annually from the podcast?
Speaker 28: The podcast last year made eighty three thousand, and so
Speaker 28: I had.
Speaker 5: Half of that because the other half went to your mom.
Speaker 27: Yeah.
Speaker 12: And when you say eighty three thousand, that was after
Speaker 12: business costs.
Speaker 7: No, that was before business costs.
Speaker 28: But we don't really have many business costs.
Speaker 12: So you've got the podcast. You also mentioned you've got
Speaker 12: something with horses.
Speaker 5: What is that?
Speaker 28: It's a business buying and selling horses, show horses.
Speaker 12: How much money did you make in two thousand and
Speaker 12: twenty three with the horse business?
Speaker 28: One hundred and forty four thousand, And that's also split
Speaker 28: into I have that business with my mom.
Speaker 12: So the podcast is half owned with your mom and
Speaker 12: the horse business.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If she told the truth and the deposition, that's an
Speaker 1: annual income of two hundred and twenty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Even split with her mom, that's still one hundred thirteen
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year. Now that Laura was in bankruptcy court,
Speaker 1: all of her previous sworn statements came under scrutiny. There
Speaker 1: appeared to be some inconsistencies. After the first meeting of creditors,
Speaker 1: Laura's bankruptcy case was referred to the United States Department
Speaker 1: of Justice. Here's wood Nick.
Speaker 12: My understanding is that the Department of Justice has a
Speaker 12: function that I think most people don't realize. Amongst all
Speaker 12: the other important things they do in the government, I
Speaker 12: think they serve as a watchdog function over the bankruptcy process.
Speaker 12: So I think someone must have notified them. Certainly wasn't
Speaker 12: my office, but someone notified them that Laura's bankruptcy had
Speaker 12: some red flags, and then they conducted their own investigation.
Speaker 1: I got a copy of Laura's bankruptcy filing. Her debts
Speaker 1: tell a story of their own. Aside from what she
Speaker 1: owes on her car and to Clayton, she claims to
Speaker 1: owe nearly fifty thousand dollars to over twenty creditors that
Speaker 1: amount includes medical and veterinary debt, credit card accounts, and
Speaker 1: buy now, pay later accounts. Laura also has a car
Speaker 1: payment for a car that she obtained in December of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, and discloses ownership of four LLCs. In
Speaker 1: bankruptcy filings, you also need to disclose your monthly expenses.
Speaker 1: Laura claims to spend eighteen hundred dollars a month in
Speaker 1: food and housekeeping supplies. That's more than most people's rent.
Speaker 1: And that's just part of her total expenses of thirty
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars a month. But as you heard, in
Speaker 1: her bankruptcy filing, Laura listed her income as zero dollars.
Speaker 1: When the DOJ got involved, Laura was forced to answer
Speaker 1: some tough questions.
Speaker 26: This is it call the Owens case Laura Owens Case
Speaker 26: twenty five one to one eight zero one.
Speaker 1: Laura Owens was back under oath on February ninth, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six.
Speaker 17: So, miss Owens, I'm an attorney with the US Forigner Justice,
Speaker 17: the US Trustees' Office, and we oversee these bankruptcy cases
Speaker 17: sort of as.
Speaker 5: A watch job.
Speaker 17: And I had gone through your bankruptcy documents and I just.
Speaker 27: Want to ask you some questions.
Speaker 1: The DOJ attorney, Miss Jennifer Giamo launches straight into some
Speaker 1: questions that the DOJ wanted answers to.
Speaker 17: So, on Schedule I, it indicates that you had zero income,
Speaker 17: So no income from way jas or operating a business.
Speaker 27: Correct? Correct? And so for what time period were you
Speaker 27: saving that you had no income for?
Speaker 7: I mean, I haven't ever in my life had like
Speaker 7: at ten night nine or two job, but I've really
Speaker 7: been supported by my family.
Speaker 17: So now in your life, have you received a ten
Speaker 17: ninety nine or a W two from any business including
Speaker 17: your own businesses?
Speaker 7: Correct?
Speaker 27: Have you ever.
Speaker 17: Received any kind of tax form like a Schedule K
Speaker 17: one that indicates that you have certain share of earnings
Speaker 17: from a partnership or an interest in an entity?
Speaker 7: No, I know that the LLC my name is LLC
Speaker 7: Business Taxes or follow us. That's whole see Okay, Yeah, but.
Speaker 11: Then I know.
Speaker 1: In this recording you can hear the repeated notifications as
Speaker 1: new creditors joined the zoom call. But just like in
Speaker 1: Mike's DVRO renewal hearing, per former Attorney David Jingris is
Speaker 1: on this call as a quote witness. Laura tries to
Speaker 1: turn to him for guidance.
Speaker 7: Maybe David could offer some clarification because he helped me
Speaker 7: answer that question.
Speaker 27: David, Well, let me just type in here. Either mister
Speaker 27: Ringis represents you or he does not.
Speaker 17: So I'm not comfortable with having mister Ringus step in
Speaker 17: as your council, you know, so you.
Speaker 27: Know if you know if he's not your council here.
Speaker 17: Unfortunately, no, he cannot be, you know, of advising you.
Speaker 27: On how to answer that.
Speaker 1: One of the debts Miss Giomo asks about is something
Speaker 1: called cherry Tech. It's a buy now, pay later lender
Speaker 1: for medical services. If you remember, in the investigation report,
Speaker 1: the state alleges that Laura purchased hCG from MEDSPA and
Speaker 1: MEDSPA accepts cherry Tech as a financing option.
Speaker 17: And I see that in your schedules you've listed debt
Speaker 17: to cherry Tech and that's a lender for Ben's spot.
Speaker 27: Correct.
Speaker 7: Cherry Tech is all under that I used for botox
Speaker 7: and for like a skin firming treatment that I got.
Speaker 7: I don't I don't know if they're with but that's
Speaker 7: that's not what I used it for.
Speaker 3: It was cool.
Speaker 7: Sculpting was for what I used it for. I would
Speaker 7: provide the place the name of the place that did.
Speaker 3: That as well.
Speaker 17: Okay, So you never obtained any loans from Cherry Tech
Speaker 17: based on services or products that you purchase from Midspot,
Speaker 17: not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 7: I mean, I've gone to a lot of places for
Speaker 7: botox and procedures, but that that's not where I think
Speaker 7: I did anything for Cherry.
Speaker 1: Okay, Miss Giamo asked Laura the obvious question. If she
Speaker 1: doesn't have a job, how does she afford to live?
Speaker 27: You added a.
Speaker 17: Line item one eight H for family support for food
Speaker 17: and living expenses, and you put zero.
Speaker 27: So was that a mistake? Do you receive any kind
Speaker 27: of family support to pay your expenses? You lovely expenses.
Speaker 7: They just pay them out of their money. I don't like,
Speaker 7: out of my my parents' pension and social Security. They
Speaker 7: don't give me money to pay that. They pay it directly.
Speaker 27: So what are they paying directly when you say they
Speaker 27: pay it?
Speaker 7: Well, I live on their property, so I mean you
Speaker 7: could technically say they're paying you know, housing.
Speaker 3: And for my food.
Speaker 27: Okay, what about your car payments?
Speaker 7: We share a car, they pay they pay for my car.
Speaker 17: Okay, so they directly because well, you you are the
Speaker 17: sole owner.
Speaker 7: Of I'm the sole owner, but they're paying for it
Speaker 7: right now because I can't afford to make the payment.
Speaker 17: Okay, and I'm assuming your parents also pay your car insurance.
Speaker 27: Yes, okay, so you don't pay any bills for your stuff?
Speaker 17: No, and you say that you've never are you saying
Speaker 17: that you've never earned any income on your own ever?
Speaker 27: Correct? Of how old you get?
Speaker 17: I'm thirty five, so thirty five years, you have never
Speaker 17: had made any income on your own to pay.
Speaker 27: Your own bills.
Speaker 7: I mean, like I said, at the face of my parents' businesses,
Speaker 7: So they've you know, paid my living expenses in exchange
Speaker 7: for me helping them.
Speaker 27: Okay, so that's kind of a compensation for your services then.
Speaker 7: I mean they yeah, I mean I don't take advantage
Speaker 7: of it.
Speaker 27: But well, you're providing them.
Speaker 17: With services and they're compensating about paying your bills, is
Speaker 17: what you just said, right?
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 17: Well, then you never figure out how you're going to
Speaker 17: want to disclose that in these schedules, because that is
Speaker 17: a form of compensation.
Speaker 1: Laura claimed that her parents paid for her life. But
Speaker 1: here's what's interesting. Four months earlier, Ron Owens and Jan
Speaker 1: Black also filed for bankruptcy. There's one particular online detective
Speaker 1: who's been looking into this part of the story, Tiffany Robertson,
Speaker 1: who goes by Big Tip Dog on social media. She
Speaker 1: recently retired from a career in the financial services industry
Speaker 1: and joined the online community investigating Laura Owens.
Speaker 15: Everybody kept saying trust fund baby, She's a trust fund baby.
Speaker 15: And I started thinking, am radio host, Okay, well he's
Speaker 15: not Howard Stern right, I'm not sure that she's a
Speaker 15: trust fund baby, And just on a whim, decided to
Speaker 15: start looking into using my skill set to look into
Speaker 15: the family a little deeper, and I think I even
Speaker 15: shocked myself with what I found.
Speaker 1: Ron Owens and Jan Black filed for Chapter thirteen bankruptcy
Speaker 1: on August fourteenth, twenty twenty five. Chapter thirteen bankruptcy allows
Speaker 1: people to keep their home while catching up on mispayments
Speaker 1: through a court appointed repayment plan. Ron and Jan were
Speaker 1: severely behind on their mortgage payments. One of their credit
Speaker 1: card companies had filed a lawsuit over delinquent accounts. Laura's
Speaker 1: parents agreed to the court ordered payment plan and made
Speaker 1: the first payment, but after that it appears they failed
Speaker 1: to continue.
Speaker 15: The mortgage problem they had is that they have two
Speaker 15: mortgages on their home that they cannot afford. I think
Speaker 15: it's fourteen thousand, two hundred and thirty two dollars total,
Speaker 15: But that's a lot of money going out each month,
Speaker 15: even when you make twenty one thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 1: Twenty one thousand dollars a month, that's what Ron and
Speaker 1: Jan declared is their monthly income on their bankruptcy filing.
Speaker 1: They alleged that this income is a combination of their
Speaker 1: pensions and Social Security, with zero dollars coming in from
Speaker 1: three LLCs. But because they didn't file their income tax
Speaker 1: returns and they didn't keep up with their payment plan,
Speaker 1: their bankruptcy claim was dismissed in January twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: That means the filing was dismissed, not the debts, which
Speaker 1: is not good news for Ron and Jan. They will
Speaker 1: have to start paying all of their previously paused debts,
Speaker 1: including their mortgage.
Speaker 15: Tiffany explains, approximately one month after Ron and Jan's bankruptcy
Speaker 15: was dismissed for lack of compliance, their first mortgage company
Speaker 15: filed a notice of trustee sale, and that's essentially a
Speaker 15: notice of foreclosure action. They are going to put the property.
Speaker 7: Up for auction.
Speaker 1: At the time I'm recording this, the Owens family home
Speaker 1: is in foreclosure. It's scheduled to be sold into public
Speaker 1: auction on May twenty six, twenty twenty six, on the
Speaker 1: steps of the Maricopa County Courthouse.
Speaker 15: What we see with Ron and Jan repetitively over time,
Speaker 15: and I'm going back decades because that's how far I've
Speaker 15: gone back into their mortgage history. At least we see
Speaker 15: what appears to be spending habits that make no sense whatsoever.
Speaker 1: Before Ron and Jan filed for bankruptcy, they added their
Speaker 1: oldest daughter, Sarah and her husband Christian, to the deed
Speaker 1: and mortgages on the Scottsdale house. Now that the home
Speaker 1: is in foreclosure, Sarah and Christian are on the hook
Speaker 1: for any outstanding debt on the home. As for Laura's
Speaker 1: bankruptcy case, in April twenty twenty six, all parties agreed
Speaker 1: to dismiss her filing. It's not clear why a dismissal
Speaker 1: agreement does not automatically discontinue any investigations by the DOJ.
Speaker 1: It just ends the bankruptcy case and forbids her from
Speaker 1: filing again within a year, like with her parents. That
Speaker 1: means she currently owes all of her debts, but the
Speaker 1: two meetings of creditors where she testified under oath. Those
Speaker 1: can be used in her upcoming criminal proceedings. Because her
Speaker 1: bankruptcy filing was dismissed, Laura still owes Clayton around two
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars. I went back to Greg Wodnick to
Speaker 1: ask him what happens next in a situation like this.
Speaker 5: Most people have jobs.
Speaker 12: That's the easiest and most common way to collect on
Speaker 12: an obligation. But to my knowledge, Laura does not seem
Speaker 12: to have regular employment. Pursuing any of the other assets
Speaker 12: is difficult and maybe impossible, depending on how things are
Speaker 12: structured and buried in different LLCs and whatnot. Clayton's not
Speaker 12: interested in elderly horses, and I don't know what other
Speaker 12: assets she has. Clayton is interested in having the three
Speaker 12: judgments paid, and it may be very difficult, if not impossible,
Speaker 12: for that to happen.
Speaker 1: In April twenty twenty six, after Laura's bankruptcy was dismissed.
Speaker 1: Her former attorney, David Jingris, posted a video on his blog,
Speaker 1: It's just jingeris this time? No Laura.
Speaker 29: A lot of people don't realize this, but when you
Speaker 29: file bankruptcy, or whether you do or don't file bankruptcy,
Speaker 29: courts cannot make people pay money they don't have. In America,
Speaker 29: we used to have I think I don't even know
Speaker 29: the history of it. I think in England other countries
Speaker 29: they had something called debtor's prison.
Speaker 5: So if you incurred a.
Speaker 29: Debt and you refuse to pay it, even if you
Speaker 29: just didn't have the money because you're broke, they would
Speaker 29: throw you in jail and basically make you work off
Speaker 29: your debt. We don't have debtors' prisons in America. If
Speaker 29: you are ordered to pay a billion dollars to somebody
Speaker 29: in damages, and if you don't have the money, you're
Speaker 29: never going to have to pay it. They don't put
Speaker 29: you in jail. There's no consequence for being broke. So
Speaker 29: Laura is not going to be paying Clayton anything as
Speaker 29: a result of her bankruptcy being dismissed. She doesn't have
Speaker 29: the money to pay him. He's welcome to go chasing
Speaker 29: after that. He tried to already, so what can you do?
Speaker 3: Nothing?
Speaker 1: Clayton hasn't let it go. He's still holding out hope
Speaker 1: that he'll get the court ordered repayment from Laura Owens.
Speaker 1: But this isn't the end of the story. There's one
Speaker 1: more twist all new tonight.
Speaker 22: Laura Owens could take a plea deal instead of going
Speaker 22: to trial.
Speaker 30: Thirty five year old Laura Owens back in court, this
Speaker 30: time discussing a possible plea deal on the table. Americo
Speaker 30: BA County Attorney's office won't discuss the terms of that
Speaker 30: plea deal with with US, but during a pre trial
Speaker 30: conference this morning, Owen's attorney confirm a plea deal has
Speaker 30: been extended.
Speaker 1: In February twenty twenty six, the state of Arizona offered
Speaker 1: Laura Owens a plea deal for the fourteen felonies. Accepting
Speaker 1: the plea would likely mean a more lenient sentence if
Speaker 1: she admits to guilt on at least some of the charges.
Speaker 1: The exact terms of the plea aren't public, but I
Speaker 1: called Clayton to see what he's able to share.
Speaker 3: As a victim.
Speaker 2: I have been told what the plea is and without
Speaker 2: saying too much, I'll just tell you that I'm not
Speaker 2: happy with it. For me, what I want to see
Speaker 2: is Laura Face's prison time.
Speaker 1: It leaves one huge question hanging in the air. Will
Speaker 1: Laura take responsibility or head to trial and fight to
Speaker 1: prove her innocence. We've caught you up to the biggest
Speaker 1: cliffhanger in this entire story, and it's happening in real time.
Speaker 1: Because that plea deal, it's current at least set to
Speaker 1: expire the same day this episode comes out Thursday, April thirtieth.
Speaker 2: So with that, I wait, we wait, and judgment time
Speaker 2: is coming. But as far as what happens to Laura,
Speaker 2: only time will tell.
Speaker 1: It seems like a black and white decision, But I've
Speaker 1: been following this story long enough to know somehow Laura
Speaker 1: always tries to find a way out. We'll let you
Speaker 1: know what happens on the next and final episode of
Speaker 1: Love Trapped. TRAT Thank you so much for listening. Please
Speaker 1: be sure to follow Love Trapped on Apple Podcasts, the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 1: please leave us a review. A five star rating helps
Speaker 1: others find this show. We're grateful for your support. If
Speaker 1: you would like to reach out to the Love Trapped
Speaker 1: team or have a similar story to share, email us
Speaker 1: at Love Trapped Pod at gmail dot com. That's Love
Speaker 1: Trapped Pod at gmail dot com. Love Trapped is a
Speaker 1: production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. This show was executive produced
Speaker 1: by Nancy Glass, Andrea Gunning and Ben Fetterman, Written, produced
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Young. Our story editor is Monique Labord.
Speaker 1: Producer on this episode is Sidney Gladou. Additional production support
Speaker 1: from Todd Gans. Our production manager is Kristin Melchiri. For
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts, Ali Perry was our executive producer. Audio editing
Speaker 1: and mastering by Anna McClain. Additional editing support by Tanner
Speaker 1: Robbins and Matt Delvecchio. Thank you to our voice actors
Speaker 1: Leslie Tolly, Todd Gans, and Olivia Hewitt. This podcast was
Speaker 1: developed in collaboration with Danny Passman and leb Abramoff at
Speaker 1: Crybaby Media. The Love Trapped theme is composed by Oliver Bains.
Speaker 1: Music library provided by Mybe Music. A special thanks to
Speaker 1: Carrie Lieberman Will Pearson Jessica Crincheck, Ali Canter, and the
Speaker 1: entire iHeart podcast team. And for more podcasts from iHeart,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts.
Speaker 30: Sh