Therapist, 26, accused of raping boy ‘posed as his teenage girlfriend’

Sofia Drotts, who worked as a behavioural health clinician, reportedly counselled the boy while he was at a juvenile detention centre, but would continue meeting him once he was released

A therapist accused of grooming and raping a teenage boy posed as his young girlfriend and had “secret meetings” with him, it has been claimed. Sofia Drotts, who worked as a behavioural health clinician, reportedly counselled the boy while he was at a juvenile detention centre in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, US.

On Monday, authorities served Drotts, of San Francisco, with a string of charges, including unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation of a person under 18 years of age, and sexual penetration by a foreign object.

Drotts allegedly started grooming the victim in 2024 when he was only 14 or 15, after being assigned the teen as a client, according to attorney John Burris, who represents his family.

He claims Drotts went on to pose as his teenage girlfriend and employed the use of a burner phone to keep in contact with him upon release. It was after his release that Drotts’ alleged rapes took place, he further stated.

John told the New York Post: “The duplicitous nature of it is really outrageous. She’s engaged in this nefarious conduct, and she’s covering her tracks with different kinds of lies.”

Investigators say the accused worked at the John Davis Juvenile Detention Center in Martinez. Concord Police, acting on a tip from a supervisor from the probation department, arrested Drotts, but she’s now been released.

John claims Drotts, reportedly a University of Wisconsin–Madison graduate, took advantage of her role to form a connection with the teen, now 17. He also says she attempted to foster trust with his mother via phone.

It was said that Drotts would tell the victim’s mum that he’d been doing well. And once he left the facility, Drotts’ association with him continued, meeting him and his mother as what was described as a county therapist.

But John alleges that she would also meet him in her car and in her apartment, and that he would even stay overnight.

He added: “Drotts would participate in these meetings with the mother, and she would speak in glorious details about how well he was doing, and at the same time she was having secret meetings with him.”

John also spoke of how his mum had been “duped” and was unaware of his whereabouts when he stayed overnight. He also alleged that Drotts had encouraged him to break his curfew and bunk off school.

A search of the teen’s home was conducted, where evidence was said to have been uncovered.

He said it was at this point that his mother, whose name has been withheld, discovered what had been going on. She said: “We trusted this professional with our son’s healing and well-being, and that trust was fundamentally shattered.”