California ‘party mom’ sentenced for hosting alcohol-fueled teen sex parties
05/28/2026 9:46 pm PDT
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (TCN) -- A 51-year-old woman known as the “party mom” has been sentenced to 35 years and 10 months in prison for hosting several alcohol-fueled parties in which she encouraged the sexual assault of minors.
In 2020 and 2021, Shannon O’Connor hosted at least six parties in which she provided alcohol and condoms for teens ages 14 and 15, according to court documents obtained by CBS News.
She would encourage the teens to drink excessively and sexually assault minor girls, sometimes while she watched. The acts she pushed the teens to perform were often nonconsensual. During one party she hosted, she watched and laughed as a girl was sexually battered in a bedroom. At another, she encouraged a boy to assault a girl who was so drunk she told investigators she almost drowned in a hot tub.
O’Connor would instruct the minors not to tell their parents about the parties and would often text them or send them Snapchat messages in the middle of the night asking them to come over to her house to drink.
O’Connor was arrested in Idaho on Oct. 13, 2021 on 39 charges, according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office. Her teenage sons were determined to be in imminent danger and removed from her custody. CBS reports that when authorities arrived with an arrest warrant, there were 10 underage boys and two underage girls in the home, most of whom had spent the night.
O’Connor was convicted of the charges in March, according to CBS News. Forty-one witnesses testified at her trial. At her multiday sentencing hearing, several victims and their family members spoke in court.
Of their statements, CBS reports Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, “I listened to the testimony of several victims and their parents and heard these words and phrases over and over again. … Predator, manipulated, groomed, hypersexualized, violated, betrayed, traumatized, isolated, intimidated, harassed. Made me feel small. Suffered severe anxiety and depression. Contemplated suicide. Not over it, lifelong impact, forever changed me, stole my innocence, took away my childhood. But I also heard resilient, strong survivors.”
KGO-TV reports that on the third day of the sentencing hearing, O’Connor said, “My actions are the cause for your pain and I am ashamed. And I face every day knowing that I was the cause. I am not sorry for myself, I am sorry for all of you and what I put you through. But as I look at you all today, I hope you can find some comfort knowing that I have been punished and will continue to be for years to come.”
MORE:
