Los Gatos 'party mom' faces up to 30 years in prison

San Francisco Chronicle / 3-6-2026

A Santa Clara County jury on Wednesday found former Los Gatos resident Shannon O’Connor guilty of dozens of crimes tied to alcohol- and sex-fueled parties she threw for teenagers, wrapping up a three-month trial in what became known as the “party mom” case.

The verdict, which attorneys said found O’Connor guilty of more than 48 crimes and not guilty of four, comes more than four years after O’Connor was arrested at her Idaho home on suspicion of child endangerment and sexual battery.

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While she lived in the Bay Area, prosecutors said O’Connor hosted multiple parties for her 15-year-old son and his friends between June 2020 and May 2021. She “supplied excessive amounts of alcohol to her son and his minor friends to the point where minors would vomit, be unable to stand and fall unconscious,” an investigator for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in court records.

The statement added that O’Connor urged “extremely intoxicated” teenagers — mostly 14 and 15 years old — to “engage in sexual activity with each other, facilitated sexual encounters, and watched some of these sexual encounters. Officials said some of the acts were nonconsensual, and that O’Connor discouraged the teens from telling their parents about the parties.

Link (paywall): https://eedition.sfchronicle.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=4dc27ce9-12c1-4590-8412-e1d2ab3bf030&

According to the link, charges included child endangerment, molesting a child, dissuading witnesses from testifying, and facilitating the forcible sexual assault from one child on to another child.