California Mom Accused Of Throwing Sex Parties For Her Teenage Son & His Friends, Allegedly Forced Them To Drink Alcohol Until They Fell 'Unconscious'
A 47-year-old Northern California mother has been arrested and indicted on accusations that she threw a series of secret booze-filled sex parties for her teenage son and his friends.
Shannon O'Connor – who also goes by Shannon Bruga – is accused of hosting several gatherings for her then-15-year-old son – a student athlete at Los Gatos High School in Santa Clara County – from last August to March of this this year, pressuring those in attendance to drink copious amounts of alcohol, engage in sexual acts while she watched, and keep their mouths shut about the debauchery.
Prosecutors say O'Connor hid the parties from her husband and other parents while the underage attendees would get so intoxicated they "would vomit, be unable to stand, and fall unconscious."
In one case, O'Connor allegedly went into a bedroom and watched as a drunk teenage boy climbed on top of and groped a teenage girl who was a friend of her son.
At another party, O'Connor allegedly handed a boy a condom and pushed him into a room where a drunk 14-year-old girl was lying on the bed. The girl allegedly ran away and locked herself in the bathroom.
O'Connor is accused of taking a drunk boy to a bedroom and leaving him there with a girl who also was intoxicated. After the girl was allegedly assaulted by the boy, prosecutors say she confronted O'Connor and said, "Like why did you like, do that? Like, you knew what he was going to do to me."
In another incident, O'Connor is accused of seeing a boy punching and kicking a drunk girl, and doing nothing to stop it.
Another girl accused O'Connor of threatening her with rumors if she were to tell anyone about the parties.
Los Gatos High School
Prosecutors say O'Connor rented a house last October, where surveillance cameras captured video that showed teenagers throwing up and stumbling around the property, which sustained $9,000 worth of damages.
Another time, a girl broke her finger and a boy got a concussion when some of the underage partygoers drove O'Connor's SUV recklessly in a school parking lot.
"It's just so terrible what she did to my daughter and these other children," the mother of one of the girls told Mercury News. "My heart breaks for these kids. It's been devastating. It's a worst nightmare for a parent."
Los Gatos High School
O'Connor was arrested as a fugitive in Ada county, Idaho, where she now lives. She will be extradited to California, where she faces 39 criminal counts, including child abuse and sexual assault, and fraud charges of more than $120,000 in unauthorized charges on a company credit.
"It took a lot of brave children to come forward and to untangle this deeply disturbing case," said District Attorney Jeff Rosen. "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."
"Everyone should feel relieved this woman's not on the street," the mom of another one of the girls added. "She was grooming these kids, setting them up for sexual acts, and she's a mother and doing this to her own child. … I've been racking my brain trying to think what was in it for her."
Los Gatos High School