Therapist Faces Charges for Alleged Abuse of Minor

A therapist from San Francisco, tasked with assisting a troubled 14-year-old boy at a juvenile detention center, is accused of grooming him and engaging in sexual activities after his release at age 17, as reported in court documents and media outlets.

This week, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office announced an eight-count felony charge against Sophia Drotts, a 26-year-old former behavioral health clinician. The charges include sexual intercourse, providing harmful material to a minor, possession of child pornography, and sexual penetration with a foreign object.

According to California laws, due to the victim’s age and the defendant being nine years older, these actions are classified as felony rape, where consent from the victim is not a valid defense.

Drotts worked at the John A. David Juvenile Detention Center in Martinez, about 55 miles north of San Francisco. Such facilities are meant to rehabilitate young offenders with no substantial criminal records who face severe consequences upon their release.

The victim’s family has initiated a separate lawsuit against the county, claiming that the county should have identified warning signs during Drotts’ time at the facility, as reported by California and New York Post.

This information was disclosed by the victim’s mother, who remains unidentified. She remarked, “We placed our trust in these professionals to aid our son’s recovery and health, and that trust has been completely broken. Our focus now is on healing and protecting him.”

On July 14, Drotts was arrested by Concord police after a probation department supervisor alerted law enforcement about the relationship.

Civil rights attorney John Burris, representing the boy’s family in the civil suit, stated that the inappropriate relationship began in 2024 while the boy was serving a two-year sentence in juvenile detention, although specifics about his incarceration are not publicly available due to the Juvenile Justice Act.

The lawsuit claims, “During the two years that Doe was incarcerated, Drotts exploited her position as a therapist to form an inappropriate emotional connection and groom him for sexual abuse.”

After the boy’s release, the lawsuit alleges that the nature of their interactions became increasingly illegal.

Drotts is reported to be a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was recognized as a psychology senior on the university’s social media platform in 2022, with certifications in various fields related to psychology.

There were indications she intended to pursue clinical psychology studies at Palo Alto University, situated near San Francisco.

Drotts has been released from jail, but details concerning her bail have not been made public, and no arraignment date was available at the time of this report.