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SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A witness who testified for the Los Gatos “Party Mom” trial on Tuesday said the mother and a large group of drunk teenagers turned a fancy beach house into an “Animal House.”
The mother, Shannon O’Connor, rented the Santa Cruz vacation home to host her son’s birthday celebrations in October of 2020. Wild antics from underage drinkers caused about $9,000 in damages, the homeowner testified to a jury in the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice.
O’Connor, 50, is accused of pressuring intoxicated Los Gatos High School students to engage in sexual activities with each other at secret parties while the mother watched for her own sexual gratification, court documents state. Prosecutors are attempting to prove to a jury that the mother’s parties crossed the line into criminal acts.
The beach house’s exterior is surrounded by surveillance cameras. When the homeowner watched footage from his cameras, his first thought was, “Oh my God.”
Shannon O’Connor walks into a courtroom on Nov. 6, 2023. (Pool image)
Videos played in court showed boys chugging alcohol, throwing up, and bashing beer cans against their heads until the cans exploded. “It’s a valuable property. We have two beautiful bathrooms. The boys peed everywhere around the yard … really acting like a bunch of hooligans,” the homeowner testified.
Surveillance cameras recorded DoorDash drivers carrying boxes of liquor and beer to the front door. “It just kept coming and coming. It was like 20 beers for each kid … copious amounts of alcohol. I was astounded, ” the homeowner said. The house was “trashed,” he said.
Cameras also recorded girls arriving at the raucous party, and showed O’Connor hanging out with the teens as the only adult present.
After a police investigation uncovered evidence about what happened at O’Connor’s parties, parents who live in the affluent, tight-knit community of Los Gatos were left reeling with shock and outrage.
Los Gatos High School is located in an affluent, wealthy neighborhood. (Photo by KRON4 / Amy Larson)
Party guests were freshmen boys and football players who were friends with her son. O’Connor decided which girls were pretty and “trustworthy” enough to make the guest lists and keep the parties secret, according to witnesses.
A mother testified Tuesday that she was friends with O’Connor and thought she was a responsible mom. Like other local parents, she trusted O’Connor around her son, the mother testified.
“I 100 percent trusted her. As a mom I have guilt for not seeing signs sooner,” the mother told the jury.
Investigators said most of “Party Mom’s” distributing events were held at her mansion while her husband was away.
On Tuesday, prosecutors played a recorded phone call made by O’Connor to the Los Gatos Police Department October 28, 2020.
During the call, O’Connor tells a dispatcher that she’s organizing a Halloween social “gathering” for about 16 “kids and parents.” O’Connor said she was calling to make sure police officers did not respond to any noise complaints made against her home between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
“We are going to be having a gathering on Halloween. We always get the cops called on us … if we play music, tiny things,” she said.
Shannon O’Connor appears in court in 2021. (Pool photo / Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group)
The dispatcher said she would give patrol officers a heads up.
O’Connor told the dispatcher that if officers arrived at her front door, no one would answer or let them inside.
“Because of COVID, it’s going to be an outdoor party only. We won’t answer the door,” O’Connor told the dispatcher.
On Monday, “John Doe 5,” a boy who went to the 2020 Halloween party, testified that more than 30 teenagers attended. “John Doe 5” said there were no adults at the party because O’Connor and her husband left. “Party Mom” had told the teens where she hid bottles of hard liquor and boxes of beer in the backyard, he said. Some teens at the unsupervised party binge drank, swam in O’Connor’s pool and jacuzzi, and passed out.
John Doe 5 said O’Connor’s backyard booze was the biggest stockpile of alcohol he’s ever seen.
At several other secret parties organized by O’Connor, she was the only adult present, investigators said.
O’Connor’s relationships with her son’s friends went beyond being considered a “cool mom,” according to testimony. John Doe 5 said O’Connor was more like one of the “popular girls” in the group, and she controlled which teenagers were excluded or included around the popular crowd. O’Connor also tried to control who dated who, he testified.
After a prosecutor asked John Doe 5 why he and other boys felt like it was normal to frequently talk to a woman in her 40s about sex, he said, “Looking back on it, it’s pretty weird.”
In 2020, the COVID pandemic left high school students without regular social opportunities, he added.
Prosecutors showed the jury group Snapchat messages sent between O’Connor and teens. She allegedly used Snapchat to communicate without the teens’ parents’ knowledge, and she named their group chat “Fox News.”
Detectives arrested “Party Mom” in October 2021. When they arrived at her home to make the arrest, she was with 12 teens who had slept over the night before, police said.
A grand jury indicted O’Connor on 63 charges, including child molestation, furnishing alcohol to minors, and endangering or injuring the health of a child. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After her son’s Santa Cruz beach house birthday party, the homeowner threatened to file a lawsuit against O’Connor if she did not pay $9,000 in damages. “She was defiant. She blew it off like it was no big deal. We had to hire a lawyer,” he testified. The homeowner said he confronted the mother about her guests’ underage drinking and warned that a lawsuit would make the incident public knowledge.
He testified that O’Connor finally agreed to pay, but she would only pay in smaller amounts broken up over months so that her husband would not find out.
A big question hanging over the lengthy trial is: Will O’Connor take the stand and testify in self defense? The trial is slated to continue on Wednesday with more witnesses called by prosecutors.
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Amy Larson
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