California “party mom” accused of hosting alcohol-fueled teen sex parties is convicted of more than 60 crimes

By Tim Fang

A San Francisco Bay Area woman who was dubbed a “party mom” by prosecutors has been convicted in connection with hosting parties during the pandemic for her teenage son and his friends, in which she encouraged drinking and sexual acts.

On Wednesday, a jury convicted Shannon Marie O’Connor, also known as Shannon Bruga, following a trial and several days of deliberations.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said O’Connor was convicted “of more than 60 crimes,” including child endangerment, annoying or molesting a child, dissuading witnesses from testifying, and facilitating the forcible sexual assault of one child onto another child.   

“After many years, and many, many victims, today there was justice. It was a long wait, it was a long trial, there was a lot of hardship and pain and suffering. But with the jury’s verdict today there is now justice,” Rosen said at a briefing Wednesday afternoon.

According to Rosen’s office, 41 witnesses testified, including 20 young adults.

Stephen Prekoski, O’Connor’s attorney, said Wednesday afternoon that the jury only delivered a handful of verdicts in O’Connor’s favor.

“Obviously, not the result we were hoping for,” Prekoski said.

The 51-year-old, who formerly lived in Los Gatos, was indicted on 63 charges, including child endangerment for furnishing alcohol to minors and aiding and abetting sexual assault.

Prosecutors said O’Connor staged at least six alcohol-fueled parties in 2020 and 2021 at her home and other places. She allegedly bought beer, vodka, whiskey and condoms and encouraged the teens, who were mostly 14 and 15 at the time, to drink to the point of unconsciousness.

She was also accused of telling the teens to keep the gatherings a secret. On several occasions, O’Connor helped teens sneak out of their homes in the middle of the night to attend the parties, according to court documents.

“This defendant took advantage of children, manipulated children, hurt children emotionally, mentally, physically and did that for her own perverse reasons,” Rosen said.

According to prosecutors, at one party, O’Connor handed a teen a condom and pushed him into a room with another teen who was intoxicated. At a New Year’s party with five 14-year-olds, prosecutors said she watched and laughed as a drunken teen sexually battered a young girl in bed. 

Prosecutors said in another case she let a minor drive her SUV in the parking lot of Los Gatos High School while two other teens held onto the back. One of the teens fell off the vehicle and was knocked unconscious.

O’Connor and her two sons moved to Idaho in 2021, where she was arrested. At the time of her arrest, sheriff’s deputies in Ada County said they found 10 underage boys and two girls at her home and suspected she was hosting similar parties in Idaho.

Legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Steven Clark says he thinks this case is far from over.

“I think what the defense is going to say is for sexual assault, you need to have more direct participation than just providing an environment where it could occur, so I see this case going up on appeal,” says Clark.

O’Connor was held without bail while awaiting trial and is still behind bars. She will be sentenced as soon as the end of this month. 

At that sentencing hearing, the victims will be able to make impact statements and O’Connor will also be allowed to make a statement.

She’s facing more than 30 years in prison and registration as a sex offender for the rest of her life.