A Los Gatos woman faces multiple charges for allegedly throwing teen parties and encouraging the underage attendees to engage in sex acts, sometimes nonconsensual, Santa Clara County officials confirmed Tuesday.
Shannon O'Connor, 47, who now lives in Idaho, is facing 39 criminal counts including child abuse, sexual assault and providing alcohol to minors. She sometimes watched the teens, most of them just 14 and 15 years old, engaging in sexual acts, provided condoms and discouraged them from telling their parents, county prosecutors say.
The house parties for teens took place from 2020 to earlier this year, according to the charging documents. At one party, O'Connor provided a condom to a teen and pushed him into a room with an intoxicated minor. In another instance during a New Year's Eve party, she watched and laughed as a drunk teen sexually battered a young girl, according to the charges.
“I think she needs to be [brought] to justice,” said Cathryn Degery of Los Gatos. “I am shocked. I can’t believe that someone would do this to kids, and it’s not even right to do this to adults. But why do this to kids?”
O'Connor also has a history of letting an unlicensed minor drive her SUV in the Los Gatos High School parking lot while two other teens held on to the back of the vehicle. One fell off and was knocked unconscious, officials say.
"It took a lot of brave children to come forward and to untangle this deeply disturbing case,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “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."
O'Connor, who is also known as Shannon Bruga, is being extradited and will be arraigned later, officials said.
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