Idaho woman charged with throwing ‘alcohol and sex’ parties for teens in California
An Idaho woman is in jail after police say she threw parties for young teenagers multiple times in California at which she served them alcohol and encouraged them to engage in sex acts. Police say they are worried she might have hosted similar parties in the Treasure Valley.
Shannon Bruga, 47, of Star, was arrested Saturday afternoon on a Santa Clara County, California, warrant containing 39 criminal charges, according to a news release from the Ada County Sheriff’s Office. Before moving to Star earlier this year, Bruga resided in Los Gatos, a city south of San Jose.
Among the 39 charges are a dozen felony child endangerment charges. Bruga also faces numerous misdemeanors, including sexual battery; annoying or molesting a child; providing alcohol to a person under 21; and lesser child endangerment charges.
During a court hearing Wednesday afternoon, Bruga told the court that she spoke with her attorney and she intended to post a $900,000 bond attached to the California arrest warrant.
Police in Idaho and California allege that Bruga hosted “alcohol and sex” parties at which she provided vodka and other types of alcohol to teens, mostly 14- and 15-year-olds. She allegedly encouraged sex acts, “sometimes non-consensual, and sometimes while she watched,” according to a news release from the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office.
Bruga also allegedly provided condoms to the teens. Investigators say she “discouraged the teens from telling their parents about the parties or calling for help when one of them passed out in their own vomit,” according to a statement of facts document filed in the California case.
Ada County sheriff’s deputies said they began to investigate Bruga separately earlier this year after a local family contacted them. The local family met Bruga online before meeting her in the Boise area in person. The meeting took place in the spring, when Bruga began looking for a home in Idaho, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
That family later learned that Bruga was part of a sexual abuse investigation and tried to sever ties with her, police said. The Sheriff’s Office says Bruga then began to harass that family.
Local law enforcement were still investigating Bruga when the California arrest warrant was issued by Santa Clara County authorities.
Officials said that when detectives arrived Saturday morning at her Star home, located on Wyatt Earp Drive, they found “there were 10 underage boys and two girls at her home — most of whom spent the night there,” according to the Sheriff’s Office news release. Investigators contacted the parents of those teens before releasing them.
Investigators placed Bruga’s two teenage sons in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare after deeming they were in “imminent danger,” according to the release.
Charging documents in California outline numerous instances starting in June 2020 during which Bruga allegedly hosted parties and would give teens alcohol to the point of “extreme intoxication.” The documents allege that Bruga hosted parties in her Los Gatos home, as well as in other homes she rented in other parts of the state, including in Santa Cruz and the Lake Tahoe area.
Police say the parties resulted in multiple sexual assaults involving children who were often intoxicated. In one instance outlined in charging documents, Bruga allegedly led a boy into a bedroom where a girl was “going in and out of consciousness.” The boy sexually assaulted the girl, according to charging documents, and the girl later confronted Bruga, who allegedly laughed off the incident.
The parties resulted in one child breaking a finger, as well as multiple instances where an intoxicated girl was punched and kicked by a boy, resulting in “heavy bruising” — all while Bruga watched, authorities say.
In one instance — which police say was on Dec. 19, 2020 in Los Gatos — Bruga was with a group of teens when she allegedly allowed an underage, intoxicated teen to drive her SUV in a high school parking lot — while two teens, both intoxicated, hung on to the back of the SUV. One of the teens fell off while the car was in motion and was knocked unconscious for 20 to 30 seconds, police said.
Charging documents say the teen was returned home, where he spent the night vomiting and nearly drowning in a bathtub because he was so intoxicated. A doctor later confirmed that the teen had a concussion.
Another instance outlined in charging documents says two Ada County teen girls went to Bruga’s Los Gatos home after she assured the girls’ mother that they would be supervised and not be allowed to consume alcohol. Bruga allegedly provided alcohol and asked one of the girls “multiple times if she wanted to have a sexual relationship with another minor boy present.” Bruga later allegedly provided one girl “prompts of excuses to tell her parents and began to groom her in how to act.”
If you or someone you know has information on Bruga or the suspected parties, please call 208-908-5457 or send an email to ahagemanturner@adacounty.id.gov.
Bruga was booked at around 12:30 p.m. Saturday on the out-of-state warrant. As of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, she was still in jail custody.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 1:51 PM.
