A California therapist allegedly groomed and raped a teenage boy she recommended at a juvenile corridor — then posed as his teenage girlfriend and used a burner telephone to secretly keep involved with him after his launch, the sufferer’s lawyer stated.
Former behavioral well being clinician Sofia Drotts, 26, of San Francisco, was hit Monday with a slew of felony prices, together with illegal sexual activity, as Bay Space prosecutors accused her of pursuing the underage sufferer, whose identification has not been launched.
Lawyer John Burris, who represents the boy’s household, stated Drotts started grooming the teenager in 2024 when he was simply 14 or 15 years previous. On the time, she was working as a therapist at a Contra Costa County juvenile corridor and had been assigned to deal with the boy as considered one of her shoppers.
In keeping with Burris, Drotts later masqueraded as the teenager’s girlfriend and used a burner telephone to take care of contact with him after he was launched from custody.
After the boy’s launch, Drotts started raping the boy, Burris stated. She did this with the intention to conceal her contact with the boy from his mom, he stated.
“The duplicitous nature of it’s actually outrageous,” stated Burris, who represents the sufferer’s household in a civil swimsuit towards the county. “She’s engaged on this nefarious conduct, and he or she’s protecting her tracks with completely different sorts of lies.”
Drotts was employed at John Davis Juvenile Detention Middle in Martinez, the place she was assigned the 17-year-old sufferer as her consumer, in line with investigators. After the boy was launched, he was raped by Drotts between April 1 and July 14, prosecutors cost.
Drotts was arrested by Harmony Police on July 14, after cops obtained a tip from a supervisor on the probation division, prosecutors stated. She has since been launched, in line with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s workplace.
Through the two years during which the boy was incarcerated on the juvenile Corridor, Drotts abused her place as his therapist to construct an inappropriate emotional reference to the boy and groom him with the target of sexual abuse, stated Burris.
Drotts additionally schemed to construct the belief of the sufferer’s mom over the course of lengthy telephone calls, by assuring her that her son was making glorious progress whereas he was incarcerated, Burris stated.
After the boy’ s launch, Drotts continued seeing the boy and his mom as a county therapist, whereas additionally assembly him illicitly in her automobile and in her San Francisco condominium, the place the boy had begun to spend the evening, Burris stated.
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“Drotts would take part in these conferences with the mom, and he or she would converse in wonderful particulars about how effectively he was doing, and on the similar time she was having secret conferences with him,” the lawyer stated.
Drotts additionally inspired the boy to skip college and violate his curfew, Burris stated.
When it lastly received to the purpose the place the boy was spending the evening away, Burris stated, his mom didn’t know the place he was going.
“Seems he was spending the evening with this lady,” stated Burris. “The mom was duped.”
These violations contributed to Drotts arrest, courtroom papers say, after authorities searched the boy’s house and located proof of the inappropriate relationship Drotts initiated.
It was then that the boy’s mom discovered what was taking place, Burris stated.
Drotts is from Chicago and holds a level in psychology from the College of Wisconsin at Madison, in line with posts made on social media and content material printed to a school publication web site.
The faculty singled Drotts out for reward in a 2022 Instagram publish. “After commencement, she’s off to the Golden State to pursue a Ph.D. in Scientific Psychology at Palo Alto College,” it stated. “Technique to go, Sofia!”
The mom of the sufferer, who has not been recognized, stated Drotts betrayed her household.
“We trusted this skilled with our son’s therapeutic and well-being, and that belief was essentially shattered,” stated the teenager’s mom.
Drotts faces different prices together with sexual penetration by a international object, sending dangerous matter to a minor, oral copulation of an individual underneath 18 years of age and possessing baby pornography.
The Contra Superior Court docket will set an arraignment date for Drotts, the place she’s going to hear the fees towards her, the District Lawyer’s workplace stated in an announcement.
