SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A mother who allegedly threw alcohol-fueled parties for Los Gatos High School students in California was considered, despite her age gap, to be part of the “popular group,” a former student testified on the stand Monday.

A jury trial for Shannon O’Connor, also known as “Party Mom,” resumed Monday in the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice. Prosecutors accused the 50-year-old mother of organizing secret parties where underage teenagers were sexually assaulted while intoxicated.

Through hosting parties and Snapchat group text messages, O’Connor controlled which students could be in the “popular group” with her and her son, and which students were socially isolated because they were deemed “untrustworthy,” according to testimony.

Prosecutors called “John Doe 5” to the stand Monday. He said he was either 13 or 14 years old when he went to his first party at O’Connor’s $4-million mansion in Los Gatos. O’Connor had alcohol hidden from her husband in the garage, he testified.

John Doe 5 had never drank alcohol before, but when he attended O’Connor’s party in September 2020, he consumed eight beers, he testified.

O’Connor’s guest lists included her son, other freshmen boys on the football team, and girls who were deemed “trustworthy” enough to keep the parties a secret from their parents, the witness said.

On direct examination, Deputy District Attorney Joanna Lee asked, “Did she mention any criminal consequences?” John Doe 5 replied, “Yeah, definitely.”

John Doe 5 said he went to the September party because “all of my friends were doing it.” When he arrived around 6 p.m., O’Connor’s son, “John Doe 3,” showed him where alcohol was hidden inside a laundry basket under a tarp in the garage. 

“After her husband left, we eventually brought it (cases of beer) out into the room. She said, ‘Wait until he leaves, don’t spill anything, don’t do anything stupid. Everyone was pretty drunk. I couldn’t think too straight. I had trouble walking,” John Doe 5 testified. 

Following the September 2020 party, John Doe 5 said he attended more boozy parties organized by O’Connor, including one for Halloween and another for John Doe 3’s birthday.

Lee asked, “Would people hook up? Were there designated rooms?” 

John Doe 5 answered, “Yes,” and explained there were two downstairs bedrooms in O’Connor’s house that were used for teenagers to engage in sex acts.

John Doe 5 said he did not feel pressure from O’Connor to participate.

Prosecutors, as well as several girls identified as “Jane Does,” painted a different portrait of the “Party Mom.” O’Connor is accused of orchestrating sexual assaults between heavily intoxicated minors while she watched. Some of the “Janes Does” have testified that they were traumatized from what happened under O’Connor’s watch.

O’Connor’s alleged crimes began in the summer of 2020, shortly after “John Doe 3” graduated from middle school, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said the 50-year-old mother’s primary motive was driven by “an unnatural or abnormal sexual interest” in children, and she encouraged sex assaults between teens for her own “sexual gratification.”

At one party on New Year’s Eve, O’Connor allegedly watched a boy sexually assault “Jane Doe 3” in her jacuzzi while the victim was so intoxicated “she could barely hold her head above water,” court documents state.

Lee showed the jury videos and photographs shot inside some of the parties. O’Connor can be seen handing alcohol to young guests. One photograph shows a girl on the ground, laying on her back, and appears to be unconscious while other teens stand around her.

Lee asked John Doe 5 if he considered O’Connor to be a “friend” whom he talked to about sex and asked if she was “like a popular girl in the group.”

He answered, “Yeah. Looking back on it, it’s pretty weird.”

John Doe 5 said he stopped going over to O’Connor’s house after the Halloween pool party, when 30 underage students drank heavily, several threw up, and one girl fell unconscious. His parents figured out what was going on when John Doe 5 returned home shirtless and shoeless, heavily intoxicated from consuming 10 drinks, and his parents searched through his phone, John Doe 5 testified.

“I was grounded for like a month,” he said.

In court on Monday, O’Connor wore a black suit and thick-rimmed glasses. She wore her long, dark brown hair in a side ponytail. O’Connor’s blonde hair dye, seen in previously published mugshots, grew out during four years in jail awaiting trial. 

A grand jury indicted the “Party Mom” on 63 felony and misdemeanor charges. In addition to child molestation and furnishing alcohol to minors, the mother is charged with over a dozen counts of endangering or injuring the health of a child. O’Connor has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The trial will continue Tuesday with judge Elizabeth Peterson presiding.