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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA: California mother Shannon O’Connor, who is accused of hosting alcohol-fuelled rave parties for her teenage son and his friends, faces more than five dozen felony and misdemeanor counts.
On Monday, October 30, a Santa Clara County grand jury indicted 49-year-old O'Connor on 63 counts, including child endangerment for providing alcohol to underage guests and encouraging and abetting sexual assault.
The indictment was handed after 17 alleged victims testified against O’Connor, as per the New York Post.
In May, a court had offered her a 17-year sentence in exchange for her guilty plea, but the additional counts might leave her facing decades behind bars. It wasn’t immediately clear whether O’Connor, who will remain in jail without bail, had an attorney who could speak to the charges.
What are the accusations against Shannon O'Cannon?
During the hearing, prosecutors alleged that in 2020, Shannon O'Connor threw six alcohol-fuelled parties at her Los Gatos home and other Airbnb locations in Lake Tahoe and Santa Cruz.
She was apparently quite picky about the females she let into her parties as court documents state, "She would reject girls as guests by saying they weren't 'pretty enough' or didn't 'put out'," according to Daily Mail.
Prosecutors claim she purchased beer, vodka, whiskey, and other alcoholic beverages and pushed the teenagers, most of whom were between the ages of 14 and 15, to consume the drinks to the point of unconsciousness.
According to court records, she also encouraged them to keep the parties a secret and, in many instances, assisted them in sneaking out of their homes in the middle of the night to attend them.
O'Connor is also accused of giving a minor male a condom at a party in December 2020 and pushing him into a room with a drunk underage female. The girl somehow managed to escape the room and locked herself in the bathroom, authorities claim in court filings.
Moreover, O'Connor apparently laughed when she saw a drunken teen sexually abusing a young girl in bed at a New Year's Eve celebration. In another instance, she is accused of pulling a drunken teenager into her bedroom, where he sexually assaulted an intoxicated 14-year-old girl.
The girl informed detectives that at another party she was so drunk she almost drowned in a hot tub.
Where is Shannon O'Connor’s family now?
Not much is known about the whereabouts of Shannon O'Connor's family, as they have been living away from the grid since her arrest in Ada County, Idaho.
However, after initially learning about the police investigation, O'Connor fled to Idaho with her sons and was eventually arrested in 2021.
Her 60-year-old husband, Robert Amaral, who was unaware of her rave parties, filed for divorce on January 12 this year to end their 14-year union, according to Mercury News.
O'Connor, who has pleaded not guilty to charges, was refused bail and ordered to remain in custody at the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Santa Clara, where she has been held since her arrest.
In February, the mother claimed that she was assaulted by five inmates at the facility.
