Heartbreaking downfall of brilliant lawyer, 44, who walked out on his career and family after being engulfed by mental illness during COVID and who now lives on streets of LA as panhandler

The relatives of a brilliant lawyer who walked out on his family and career amid a mental health spiral during Covid have spoken of their devastation after he ended up living on the streets of LA.

Two years ago Rob Dart, 44, was an award-winning attorney and doting father living in a $2 million South Pasadena home.

He had overcome a previous mental health crisis a decade earlier, following the end of his marriage which saw him plagued by voices in his head. 

Back then, Dart still had the wherewithal to turn to his family for support and he managed to recuperate at home in his childhood bedroom before moving out and reinventing himself as a high flying lawyer.

But in 2022, his life began to unravel once again with the advent of the pandemic, which saw him spending hours working from home.

Dart quit therapy and his medications and soon lost touch with his family, as well as his job.

He missed rent, his car was impounded and soon after his phone got cut off.

'I got on a plane,' his mom Sherry Dart told the Wall Street Journal. 'I thought I was going to find a dead body.' 

When she finally caught up with her son, he was almost unrecognizable - and furious.

Dart allowed his mom to greet her grandson for a short while, before whisking him away. He then proceeded to ignore his mother's repeated phone calls over the next few days.

It was a similar story for Dart's sister Jennifer when she tried to visit him in July, weeks after he had been evicted.

Jennifer scoured the local area before she found her once clean cut brother with matted hair and in total disarray at a Starbucks.

'The only thing I could recognize were his eyes,' she said, describing a similarly hostile reaction.

Dart was one of the millions of Americans whose mental health issues were exacerbated by the pandemic through interruptions to treatment, routine or for other reasons.

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25 percent, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) 

Dart's family had hoped that California's more robust laws on detaining those with serious psychotic disorders would provide the safety net he so desperately needed.

In 2022, the CARE Court laws introduced powers for judges to commit mentally ill people into facilities if family members petition the courts.

In most states, loved ones can do little to access treatment on behalf of patients without their consent. 

However, Dart's moments of lucidity and his legal background meant he was often able to argue his way out of being committed.

One of these occasions occurred after he was persuaded to be hospitalized in December 2022 after neighbors called his mom to report that he had become hysterical.

A panicked Sherry immediately called police who sent over mental health specialists who were able to coax him into treatment.

Sherry flew to California the next day and was devastated by what she found inside her son's apartment.

Upon opening the door she was hit with a rancid smell and the sight of crazed etchings in notebooks describing how Dart had hear the voice of Satan.

His paranoid rantings included that he was, John Lennon, 'St. Nicholas Cage', 'the invisible Obama' and that people were trying to steal from him.

Dart checked himself out of the hospital and turned up in an erratic state on his ex-wife's porch on December 28. 

His condition alarmed her and she refused to allow him access to his son, prompting Dart to file motions in court accusing her of breaking the custody arrangement.

The judge was persuaded by his articulate arguments and agreed to a hearing. However, when the full extent of his breakdown became known, the courts granted her a protective order. 

Over the next months Dart's family desperately tried to reach him, invariably with little success.

Things took a turn for the even more frightening in September 2023 when he was shot in the leg on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Dart had been attempting to 'meditate' on the stretch when he was struck by an errant bullet.

He initially refused hospital treatment, but was later tricked into attending by a friend.

Once there, a psychiatrist attempted to have him committed. However, Rob used his legal training and flashes of clarity to successfully argue his way out again.

The next few weeks were marked by trips to and from hospitals in the area, but never for long.

His family continued to try and support him, funding Airbnbs, hotel rooms and the odd meal on DoorDash. Sherry has spent her life savings on trying to keep her son safe.

On December 27, Dart posted on Facebook looking for a place to stay. 

'Hey guys, I'm looking for a place to crash in Los Angeles. That's because I'm homeless. If anyone has some space in their apartment or anything, please DM me. Thanks,' he said.

By this point Dart had become one of the 46,000 homeless people on the streets of LA. 

The next time his family heard from him was three months later, when he delivered a request they leave him alone.

For his part, Dart maintains he is not sick and that quitting his medications has improved his life.

'I did want to leave the hospital, and I did not want to take the medications,' Dart told the Wall Street Journal.

'It made me more afraid, less assertive, less confident. Who wants to feel like that? You realize you're kind of the same person,' Dart said. 'You just know more about yourself.'

But for his family, it already feels too late as they are simply left with the memory of who he was.