sourceLos Gatos mom who threw sex-fueled teenage parties makes first court appearance
A 47-year-old Los Gatos mom accused of hosting drunken, sex-fueled parties for her teenage son and his friends was denied bail Wednesday.
Shannon O'Connor, also known as Shannon Bruga, made her first court appearance yesterday. At the arraignment in a Santa Clara courtroom, a judge issued 15 protective orders for people authorities say were victims, including one of her two teenage sons, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Defense attorney Sam Polverino argued that the prosecution’s successful request to deny bail for his client denied her rights and was “inconsistent with due process,” the Mercury News said. She was scheduled to enter a plea Dec. 17.
Bruga was extradited to California on Tuesday to face 39 felony and misdemeanor charges, including child abuse, sexual assault, sexual battery, child molestation and providing alcohol to minors, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said. She faces incarceration if she is convicted. She was also hit with three additional charges of grand theft tied to $120,000 in unauthorized charges on company credit cards from her former employer, including payments for clothing, limousine rides and alcohol delivery to her home.
O'Connor allegedly threw parties for high school students in the Silicon Valley community of Los Gatos, Calif., where she served copious amounts of alcohol, encouraged teenagers to have sex and sometimes watched the sexual acts, the prosecution said.
She "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," a statement of facts alleged.
At one party at her Los Gatos home in December, authorities said, O’Connor handed a condom to a boy and pushed him into a room with an intoxicated girl. Both were minors. The girl was able to get away and locked herself in the bathroom, Santa Clara County District Attorney investigator Christina Hanks detailed in court filings.
The parties were held across an 11-month period spanning 2020 to 2021 and were mainly attended by 14- and 15-year-olds, the office said.
The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District released a statement in response to O'Connor's arrest stating that student safety is a top priority.
"It is important to note that we take the topic of underage drinking very seriously and work continuously to promote awareness and dialogue in our classrooms and our community," the statement said. "Additionally, parents and families also play a crucial role in setting clear expectations for the behavior of our young people and in monitoring their activities. Only together can we effectively address social issues such as substance abuse.”
O'Connor most recently lived in a suburb of Boise, Idaho, and when officers arrested her at her home in Star, “there were 10 underage boys and two girls at her home — most of whom spent the night there,” the Ada County Sheriff's Office said in the news release. Investigators called the parents of those teens before releasing them.
Detectives with the sheriff's office said O'Connor may have also been holding parties for teenagers in Idaho.
Two things: 1) This lady is obviously nuts and unfit to be around kids, even her own children. 2) Los Gatos is a high priced and wealthy town. I suspect there are a lot of kids who have "affluenza" living there.
