Investigators fear that the Los Gatos mother who faces almost 40 criminal charges for allegedly housing and encouraging drunken teenage sex parties did not limit her atrocities to California.
Forty-seven-year-old Shannon O’Connor, also known as Shannon Bruga, was arrested at her home in Eagle, Idaho on Saturday for 39 crimes committed in Santa Clara County.
O’Connor is accused of throwing multiple “drunken parties for young teenagers where she encouraged sex acts, sometimes non-consensual, and sometimes while she watched,” from 2020 to earlier this year, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.
The charges include 12 felony counts of child endangerment, 10 misdemeanor counts of child endangerment with unjustifiable pain, 13 misdemeanor counts of providing alcohol to minors, three misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a child and one count of misdemeanor sexual battery.
In one instance, among an assortment of horrific allegations, she watched and laughed as a drunk teen sexually battered a young girl in bed.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office, who separately were investigating O’Connor prior to her arrest due to the Bay Area crimes, announced on Wednesday that they are concerned “she may have been holding similar parties” in Idaho.
"Our investigators suspect (O’Connor) held other parties with local teenagers over the last several months," the sheriff’s office said in a release.
Ada County detectives’ initial investigation began when a family notified them that O’Connor was looking for a new home in the Boise area last spring. The family, who met with O'Connor as she searched for a house, tried to sever ties with her once they found out about the California investigation and after that she began harassing them.
Ada County officials also released more information about O’Connor’s arrest. Deputies said there were 10 underage boys and two girls at her house when they arrived to detain her, “most of whom” spent the night. The teenagers were released after authorities contacted their parents.
In addition, officials have declared O’Connor’s two teenage sons to be in imminent danger and placed them in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that O’Connor, along with her husband, tech executive Robert Amaral, put their $4.7 million Los Gatos home up for sale last year and the family recently moved to a rental home in Idaho. One Los Gatos High parent told the paper that there was a general consensus that the move was due to the "firestorm that was about to hit."
Anyone with information about O’Connor’s potential crimes in Idaho is asked to call officials at 208-908-5457 or email ahagemanturner@adacounty.id.gov.
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