A former therapist at Contra Costa County's only maximum-security juvenile detention facility faces seven felony charges for allegedly sexually abusing a 17-year-old boy who had been her client.

The facility, John A. Davis Juvenile Hall in Martinez, houses youth offenders from across the county, including youth from Orinda, Moraga, and Lafayette.

The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office charged Sofia Ann-Buitron Drotts, 26, of San Francisco on Monday, July 27, with two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation of a person under 18, one count of sexual penetration by a foreign object, two counts of sending harmful matter to a minor, and one count of possession of child pornography.

Drotts worked as a Behavioral Health Clinician at the 270-bed facility.

How the case unfolded

According to the DA's office, Drotts was assigned the victim as a client while he was serving a two-year sentence at the juvenile hall. After his release, prosecutors say the two engaged in a sexual relationship between April 1 and July 14, 2026.

The investigation began when Concord Police detectives received a tip from a supervisor at the Contra Costa County Probation Department. Officers arrested Drotts on July 14 and referred the case to the DA approximately one week later.

A civil claim filed the same day as the charges alleges the grooming began years earlier. Oakland-based civil rights attorney John Burris, representing the victim's family, said in the claim that Drotts began targeting the teen when he was 14 or 15 years old in 2024, according to Danville SanRamon.

CBS News Bay Area reported that after the victim's release, Drotts allegedly encouraged him to miss school and ignore his curfew, and that he stayed overnight at her San Francisco home.

Family speaks out

The victim's mother, told reporters Monday, July 27: "This woman used my child's most vulnerable moments to groom and make him believe she was his girlfriend," KRON4 reported.

Burris said the county's monitoring protocols failed, and that supervisors must be held accountable for not identifying what the claim calls "red flags" in Drotts's behavior.

The family's civil claim names Contra Costa County, Contra Costa Health, the juvenile detention facility, and the county Probation Department as targets.

County response

Contra Costa Health, in a statement to media, described Drotts as a "former temporary employee" and said it cannot comment further because the matter involves active legal and personnel proceedings.

Drotts has not entered a plea. Her arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday, July 29, in Contra Costa Superior Court, though no outcome had been confirmed as of press time.

Residents with information related to the case can contact the DA's Public Information Officer Ted Asregadoo at 925-957-8638.