Shannon O'Connor (Santa Clara District Attorney's Office)
The 48-year-old "Party Mom" in California accused of throwing secret alcohol-fueled parties for underage teens in her mansion and encouraging the juveniles to engage in sex acts — some of which were allegedly not consensual — for her own "gratification" also allegedly performed multiple perturbing online searches for terms relating to the sexualization of children.
Shannon O'Connor, whose 15-year-old son is one of the alleged victims in the case, is currently facing 39 criminal charges, including felony child abuse, sexual assault, sexual battery, annoying or molesting a child, and providing alcohol to minors.
In newly filed motions, prosecutors revealed additional details about the case against O'Connor, who has a preliminary hearing currently slated for the first week of November.
According to court documents filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office last week, when authorities first took O'Connor into custody two years ago, investigators performed a forensic search of her cellphone, stating:
The following Google searches, relevant to her charges of annoying or molesting a child, were found on her phone:
- "Good books with young sex"
- hot 16 tear [sic] old teenage girls
- "prettiest 16 year old girl"
- "Tita [sic] and ass"
Defendant's phone also had multiple videos that appeared to have been downloaded from TikTok and other social media applications. The videos show young girls who appear to be underage. They are dressed in revealing clothing and make statements to the camera.
Prosecutors say O'Connor hosted the parties for kids, mostly 14 and 15, where she would advocate for the juveniles to engage in consensual and nonconsensual sex acts
Buying vodka and Fireball whiskey, O'Connor allegedly provided the kids with condoms and coached them not to tell their parents about the parties. She also allegedly discouraged the children from calling for help when one of the partygoers would pass out or vomit from drinking too much, authorities said.
O'Connor allegedly used social media platforms to communicate with students at Los Gatos High School, where two of her sons were enrolled. She would often use Snapchat or text messages, telling teens to leave their homes late at night and come to her house where they could drink alcohol that she had purchased for them.
At one party, O'Connor handed a teenager a condom and pushed him into a room with another drunk teen, officials said.
During a New Year's Eve party with about five 14-year-olds, she allegedly watched and laughed as a drunk teen sexually battered a young girl in bed.
In another case, she allegedly brought a drunk teen into a bedroom at her home where an intoxicated 14-year-old girl was lying in bed.
Afterward, the girl asked O'Connor: "Why did you leave me in there with him? Like why did you like do that? Like you knew like what he was going to do to me."
According to a report from San Francisco CW affiliate KRON, court documents indicate that O'Connor is planning to argue that any sexual activity that took place between the juveniles inside her home was consensual.
"In order to combat this argument, it is necessary to put on evidence of how many times defendant saw children being sexually abused and still continued to encourage the assaults," prosecutors reportedly wrote in a motion seeking permission to introduce evidence of O'Connor's behavior and patterns that did not directly lead to criminal charges.
Prosecutors say she also let a minor drive her SUV in a parking lot while two other kids were hanging onto the back of the vehicle. One of the two teens hanging onto the back allegedly fell off and was knocked unconscious.
At the time, O'Connor convinced police that everything was fine and she was taking the kids home, but the boy who was knocked unconscious suffered a severe concussion and was up all night vomiting and experiencing headaches, prosecutors say. That same evening, O'Connor allegedly performed internet searches for "what to do for a concussion in a teenager" and "fell hard on my head and have a big bruise and vomiting."
After learning that she may be the subject of a police investigation, prosecutors say O'Connor performed Google searches to see if there was a warrant out for her arrest, for information on laws about providing alcohol to minors, and whether she could be prosecuted in California while living in Idaho, where she fled prior to her arrest.
Earlier this year, O'Connor was hospitalized after five female inmates at the Santa Clara County Jail allegedly beat her in a vicious and unprovoked attack. Authorities said the beating, caught on surveillance footage, lasted about 16 seconds before deputies entered and escorted O'Connor out of her dorm room and brought her to the hospital for medical treatment.
O'Connor has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against her and is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on Nov. 6.