A California mom, who hosted secret sex parties for her teenage sons so she could watch the sex abuse among drunken kids, was hauled to court to face 39 criminal counts. It also appeared that she hosted the same kinds of events in Idaho, where she was arrested.
Shannon O'Connor, 47, who also goes by Shannon Bruga, has been charged with child endangerment, providing alcohol to kids under 21, sexual battery, and molesting a child, among others. She hosted these teen sex parties for her 14 and 15-year-old boys and their friend between June 2020 to May 2021 in Los Gatos, Lake Tahoe, and Santa Cruz in California.
However, the Ada County Sheriff's Office also found out that she had similar illicit parties at her new home in Star, a suburb northeast of Boise in Idaho. The California mom and her sons moved into the area early this year.
Officers saw that there were about 10 teenage boys and two teenage girls in her house as they dropped by to issue the warrant of arrest for her cases in California. The police had notified the parents before the kids were released.
What Happened at These Parties?
The Ada County Sheriff's Office had a whiff of O'Connor's sex parties after she had an altercation with a local family in Idaho. O'Connor was still looking for a house at that time, but the family decided not to close the deal because they found out she was under investigation for sex abuse in California. After that, the family said O'Connor harassed them, so they reported her to the police, who conducted investigations until the California warrant was issued.
According to the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office, O'Connor told the kids never to tell their parents or her husband, tech executive Robert Amaral, about the secret parties. Court documents showed that the mom offered alcohol excessively so that some of the kids would vomit and blackout.
One incident alleged that O'Connor handed condoms to a boy and forced him into a bedroom with a 14-year-old girl who was already drunk and lying down on the bed. Another incident detailed that O'Connor laughed at a drunk young girl crying after her encounter with a boy in the bathroom. She said that the boy "made me bleed."
Teenagers who refused O'Connor's prodding to have sexual activities with each other were pulled into a room for a "private conversation" until they would participate. Apart from the sexual incidents, the teenagers also got too drunk that they had concussions or minor surgery.
Videos taken during one of her son's birthday parties were uploaded on Snapchat, which investigators unearthed. The Santa Clara District Attorney's Office said that some of the children were brave enough to come forward and report O'Connor. It took nearly a year to build a case against O'Connor.
Los Gatos Community Hails Arrest
Parents in O'Connor's former community are glad to hear about her arrest in the news. One of the girls in her son's former high school said that it makes her feel safer now that she will face charges.
For some time, some of the kids and the parents in Los Gatos felt something was off with O'Connor, who was initially seen as the "cool mom." One parent said that O'Connor did a lot of weird stuff on Snapchat with the kids.
It's still unclear if the boys who forced themselves on the girls would also face criminal charges. However, one parent said that O'Connor manipulated them, so they should not be culpable.
