Chilling way therapist, 26, pursued teen client who she ‘raped after his release from detention centre where she worked’

A THERAPIST allegedly used a burner phone to contact a teenage boy to groom and rape him following his release from a detention centre where she began treating him. Sofia Drotts, 26, allegedly arranged illicit meetings with the 17-year-old while avoiding being detected by the boy’s mother, the lawyer representing his family said. A California clinician is facing felony charges after she allegedly groomed a teenage boy from age 14 Credit: Instagram/uwmadisonls Drotts allegedly raped the boy for three months after he left a juvenile hall where she was assigned as his therapist Credit: Instagram/uwmadisonls Lawyer John Burris said the former behavioural health clinician also masqueraded as the juvenile’s girlfriend as part of her “nefarious conduct”. “The duplicitous nature of it is really outrageous,” Mr Burris told the New York Post. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! “She’s engaged in this nefarious conduct, and she’s covering her tracks with different kinds of lies.” Drotts allegedly began grooming the teenager in 2024 when he was 14 or 15-ears-od when he was in a juvenile detention centre, Mr Burris said. He alleged Drotts exploited her position to build an inappropriate emotional connection with the boy and groom him with the intention of abusing him. Drotts also allegedly schemed to build the trust of the victim’s mother through long phone calls during which she reassured her that her son was making progress. Following the teen’s release, Drotts continued seeing him and his mother as a county therapist. She also allegedly began arranging clandestine meetings with the boy in her car and at her San Francisco apartment, where the boy also spent the night, Mr Burris said. Most read in The Sun “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,” he said. The boy’s mother reportedly did not know about these rendezvous. “Turns out he was spending the night with this woman. The mother was duped,” Mr Burris said. Drotts raped the boy between April 1 and July 14, prosecutors allege. She also encouraged the boy to skip school and break his curfew, Mr Burris alleged. Police searched the boy’s home and found evidence of the inappropriate relationship, court papers said. The boy – referred to as John Doe in the claim – was serving two years in Contra Costa County Juvenile Hall, California, when Drotts began working as his therapist. Drotts faces seven criminal charges including two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation of a person under 18 years of age and one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object. She has also been charged with two counts of sending harmful matter to a minor and one count of possession of child or youth pornography. An arraignment date for Drotts, who has since been released, will be set, where she will hear the charges against her. Comment now