Dozens more charges have been filed against a California “party mom” accused of organizing sordid underage sex parties for her teenage son and his friends.
Shannon O’Connor, 49, is accused of pressuring children as young as 13 to drink too much and have sex for their own pleasure during parties at her $4.7 million Los Gatos home has.
She has now been indicted on 63 charges by a grand jury in Santa Clara, after charges including drunken joyriding and assisting the sexual penetration of an intoxicated minor were added to her criminal record.
A judge in May offered her a 17-year prison sentence for pleading guilty, but the new charges could land her behind bars for decades.
“She’s going to see more time, which is my end goal,” said the mother of one of the teen victims.
Shannon O’Connor, 49, now faces 63 charges over alleged underage sex parties she hosted for her teenage son and his friends
O’Connor has been in jail without bail since her arrest in October 2021
O’Connor’s $4.7 million Los Gatos home, where six of the parties are said to have taken place
‘She is a threat to society and is clearly unwell. The more known about her predatory behavior, the better.”
Some of the alleged parties took place at O’Connor’s mansion in Los Gatos while her husband was away, while others were hosted at Airbnb locations in Lake Tahoe and Santa Cruz.
O’Connor was very selective when it came to the girls allowed into her parties, often rejecting them if they did not meet her standards.
“She refused girls as guests by saying they were not ‘pretty enough’ or ‘out of the closet,'” according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege she bought beer, vodka, whiskey and other liquor and encouraged the teens, who were mostly 14 and 15, to drink to the point of unconsciousness.
She also told them to keep the meetings secret and on several occasions helped teenagers sneak out of their homes in the middle of the night to attend them, court documents show.
At a party in December 2020, O’Connor allegedly handed a condom to a boy and pushed him into a room with a drunk girl. Both were minors.
The girl escaped and locked herself in the bathroom, authorities said in the lawsuits.
During a New Year’s Eve party at her home with about five 14-year-olds, O’Connor allegedly watched and laughed as a drunken teen sexually assaulted a young girl in bed, authorities allege.
In another case, she allegedly brought a drunken teenager into a bedroom at her home, where he sexually assaulted a drunken 14-year-old girl.
That girl told investigators she was so drunk at another party that she almost drowned in a hot tub, according to court documents.
O’Connor rejected a judge’s offer in May to receive a 17-year sentence for pleading guilty, but the new charges could leave her behind bars for decades.
During a New Year’s Eve party at her home with about five 14-year-olds, O’Connor allegedly watched and laughed as a drunken teen sexually assaulted a young girl in bed, authorities allege
O’Connor was arrested in 2021 in Ada County, Idaho, where she was living with 12 underage guests at the time.
An examination of her phone revealed searches for ‘Good books with young sex’, ‘hot 16 (year old) teenage girls’, ‘most beautiful 16 year old girl’ and ‘t*** and a**’.
The alleged victims included male and female students at Los Gatos High School, including O’Connor’s own two sons.
After luring the youths to her home, she allegedly facilitated “sexual encounters” between minors, both with and without consent, while some victims reported watching as they were sexually abused.
O’Connor’s husband reportedly filed for divorce earlier this year, seemingly unaware of her actions.
When O’Connor learned of the police investigation in 2021, she fled with her sons to Idaho, where she conducted further Google searches for arrest warrants, statutes of limitations and legal ramifications.
These included searches such as: “can I be prosecuted in California if I live in Idaho,” “how do I know if there is a warrant for my arrest,” “providing alcohol to minors in a private home,” and “statute of limitations.” California,” according to court documents.
She also allegedly tried to convince her 15-year-old son not to cooperate with investigators.
O’Connor’s defense will likely argue that she believed the sexual encounters between the teens were consensual, while prosecutors will argue that she knew what she was doing.
Seventeen teenagers testified before the grand jury before it increased the number of felonies O’Connor faced from 12 to 20, and the number of misdemeanors from 27 to 43.
O’Connor claims she was attacked by inmates during her incarceration at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Santa Clara
O’Connor, who denies the charges, was denied bail and ordered to remain in custody at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Santa Clara, where she has been held since her arrest.
She claims she was attacked by five inmates at the facility in February.
“It’s a really difficult process for these children to talk about what happened,” one mother said Mercury.
“It’s been postponed and postponed and postponed. We just wanted to move it. This waiting is very painful and difficult, and these children want to move on.
“This happened when they were freshmen, and now they’re seniors.”