California mom charged for allowing teen son and friends to host drink and sex parties that she watched

Teenagers were told to lie about the events at which minors were assaulted, a court has claimed

Shannon Marie O'Connor (Ada County Sheriff's Office)

A 47-year-old mother has been charged with allowing her teenage sons to host sex and drink parties at which minors were allegedly assaulted, and which she is also accused of watching.

Shannon Marie O'Connor, of Los Gatos, California, was arrested on Saturday in Idaho and charged with “endangering or injuring the health of a child”.

According to a Satna Clara County court, Ms O’Connor allowed her two teenage sons and his friends to drink and have sex at parties that were held at her home between September 2020 and February 2021.

Ms O’Connor was accused of supplying her two sons, aged 13 and 15, and his teenage friends with alcohol that caused them to “vomit, be unable to stand, and fall unconscious”. Others were heavily intoxicated.

At a party in December last year, she was accused of allowing a minor, named “Jane Doe” in the filing, to be sexually assaulted by another teenager who was also intoxicated.

She allegedly forced the girl into a room with another minor, who was supplied with a condom.

Ms O’Connor told the teenagers not to inform anybody about the parties, and lied to a boy’s parents about him hitting his head and suffering a concussion because he fell from an SUV while heavily intoxicated.

A Snapchat group was also maintained between the woman’s sons and his friends, which Ms O’Connor was a part of, according to authorities.

It was alleged that she would ask the minors to visit her home and drink in the middle of the night.

Christiana Hanks, a Santa Clara County district attorney investigator, wrote that she believed Ms O’Connor had committed “multiple acts of child abuse likely to cause great bodily harm, injury or death, sexual battery, [and] annoying or molesting a child”.

She was also accused of supplying alcohol to minors.

According to People.com, Ms O’Connor remains in jail and is awaiting extradition to California from her home in Idaho. It was unclear if she had an attorney.