A Los Gatos woman has been charged with a number of offenses after allegedly hosting secret parties with alcohol and sex for her teenage son and his friends, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The charges allege that 47-year-old Shannon O’Connor encouraged sex acts among the teens — some of them non-consensual — and sometimes watched the encounters, KTLA sister station KRON in San Francisco reports.
O’Connor, the mother of a 15-year-old, tried to keep the parties secret and discouraged the teens from telling their parents about the parties, or even calling for help when one minor passed out in their own vomit, according to the statement of facts.
She allegedly provided alcohol, such as beer, vodka and Fireball whiskey, and also handed out condoms, a news release from the DA’s office stated.
O’Connor, also known as Shannon Brugawho, is charged with 39 criminal counts, including felony child abuse, sexual assault, and providing alcohol to minors. Officials have not said how much jail or prison time she faces if convicted as charged.
As of Tuesday morning, an arraignment hearing was pending for the defendant, who now resides in Idaho and was awaiting extradition to California.
“It took a lot of brave children to come forward and to untangle this deeply disturbing case,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the news release. “As a parent, I’m shocked. As the DA, I’m determined to hold those adults who endanger children fully accountable to the law and our community.”
The parties took place over an eight-month period and began prior to the defendant’s son turning 15, according to the DA’s office. Most of the attendees were 14 and 15 years old at the time.
During one of the parties for about five 14-year-olds that was held on New Year’s Eve, “the defendant watched and laughed as a drunk teen sexually battered a young girl in bed,” prosecutors allege.
O’Connor allegedly brought one drunk teen into a bedroom at her home where an intoxicated 14-year-old girl was lying in the bed. After she was assaulted, the girl said to the defendant: “Why did you leave me in there with him? Like why did you like do that? Like you knew like what he was going to do me,” the news release stated.
Additionally, O’Connor would Snapchat or text teens inviting them over in the middle of the night to drink at her house, the DA’s office said.
In a separate case, O’Connor faces felony fraud charges for making more than $120,000 in unauthorized charges on a company card she was given as an administrative assistant for Aruba Networks.
