Contra Costa County prosecutors on Monday charged Sofia Ann-Buitron Drotts, a former behavioral health clinician, with multiple felony counts after alleging she groomed and sexually abused a teen boy she met while working at a juvenile detention facility. Drotts, 26, was arrested July 14 by Concord police after a tip from a supervisor at the county’s Probation Department.
The charges include unlawful sexual intercourse, sending harmful subject matter to a minor and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors said the teenager and Drotts began a sexual relationship in April and it lasted until July 14, the day of her arrest.
The filing puts a criminal case on top of a county claim that already paints a broader pattern of abuse. The teenager’s family, represented by Oakland attorney John Burris of Nienbaum & Curry, says Drotts groomed him for nearly two years, beginning when he was around 15 years old, and used her role as his therapist to build an inappropriate emotional connection while he was in custody. Burris said she “abused her position as his therapist to establish an inappropriate emotional connection.”
That claim also says Drotts continued treating the teenager after his release in April, when prosecutors say the sexual relationship began. The family says the conduct went overlooked and unreported for months, even as the teenager’s probation officer changed at least four times after his release.
What prosecutors have not yet spelled out is the evidence behind the child pornography charge, even as the case now moves forward with multiple felony counts and a sharper focus on how much was known, and when, inside the detention system.
