Shannon O’Connor (Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office)
Shannon O’Connor, the “Party Mom” accused of throwing secret alcohol-fueled parties for underage teens in her California mansion where she urged them to engage in non-consensual sex acts with each other while she watched, was hospitalized after being attacked by a group of inmates as she remains incarcerated awaiting trial, court records show.
Five female inmates at the Santa Clara County Jail are accused of entering a dorm room at the Elmwood Correctional Facility unprovoked and viciously beating O’Connor by repeatedly kicking and punching her.
“The assault was carried out using hands and feet, and the level of force used was likely to produce great bodily injury,” a sheriff’s deputy wrote in an affidavit. “No other weapons were used.”
She did not strike or threaten her attackers, the deputy added.
Authorities say the beating, caught on surveillance footage, lasted about 16 seconds before deputies entered and escorted O’Connor out of the dorm room. She was treated at a hospital.
The inmates accused in the attack — Erika Amaya, Danielle Chavez, Sophia Vigil, Anita Quiroz, and Marjaana Gardea — face one count each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily harm.
They are scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, records show.
The 47-year-old O’Connor, meanwhile, is being held without bond on 39 criminal charges, including felony child abuse, sexual assault, sexual battery, and providing alcohol to minors.
Prosecutors say she hosted parties for kids, mostly 14 and 15.
She bought vodka and Fireball whiskey, provided condoms, and urged the teens not to tell their parents about the parties. She also allegedly discouraged the children from calling for help when one passed out from getting drunk and vomited, authorities said.
O’Connor allegedly used social media platforms to communicate with students at Los Gatos High School, where two of her sons were enrolled. She would often use Snapchat or text messages, telling teens to leave their homes late at night and come to her house where they could drink alcohol that she had purchased for them.
At one party, O’Connor handed a teenager a condom and pushed him into a room with another drunk teen, officials said.
During a New Year’s Eve party with about five 14-year-olds, she allegedly watched and laughed as a drunk teen sexually battered a young girl in bed.
In another case, she allegedly brought a drunk teen into a bedroom at her home where an intoxicated 14-year-old girl was lying in bed.
Afterward, the girl asked O’Connor: “Why did you leave me in there with him? Like why did you like do that? Like you knew like what he was going to do to me.”
Prosecutors say she also let a minor drive her SUV in a parking lot while two other kids were hanging onto the back of the vehicle. One of the two teens hanging onto the back allegedly fell off and was knocked unconscious.
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