October 13, 2021
-Sf Gate
A 47-year-old woman from Los Gatos, Calif., faces multiple charges for allegedly hosting high school parties where she served teenagers copious amounts of alcohol and encouraged sex acts that she sometimes watched, authorities said.
Shannon O’Connor, who is also known as Shannon Bruga and now lives in Idaho, allegedly “bought vodka and Fireball whiskey, provided condoms, and discouraged the teens from telling their parents about the parties or calling for help when one of them passed out in their own vomit,” the statement of facts said.
She allegedly lured teens to her house in the middle of the night over SnapChat and text, and warned them not to disclose the parties or she could go to jail, a press release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said.
The parties held from 2020 to earlier this year were mainly attended by 14- and 15-year-olds, and it wasn’t uncommon for teens to drink until the point of vomiting and passing out, the release reported.
O’Connor was charged with 39 criminal counts, including felony child abuse, sexual assault, and providing alcohol to minors. She faces incarceration if she is convicted.
“It took a lot of brave children to come forward and to untangle this deeply disturbing case,” Santa Clara District Attorney Rosen said in a statement. “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 faces additional felony fraud charges in a separate case for making more than $120,000 in unauthorized charges on a company card she was given as an administrative assistant for Aruba Networks, the district attorney said.
A statement from the District Attorney’s Office detailed several incidents at wild parties allegedly thrown by O’Connor at her home.
At one party, she allegedly handed an underage teenager a condom and pushed him into a room with an intoxicated minor, and at another attended by about five 14-year-olds, the defendant watched and laughed as a drunk teen sexually battered a young girl in bed. The statement said she allowed a minor to drive her SUV in the Los Gatos High School parking lot while two other teens held on to the back. One fell off and was knocked unconscious, the District Attorney’s Office said.
