More than a year before Gary Ott was re-elected county recorder in 2014, a neurologist who examined Ott was unsure how he could function at work, given the progressive mental decline he’d experienced by that point.
The doctor, Trevor J. Squire, diagnosed Ott with dementia – specifically Alzheimer’s disease – after Ott struggled to repeat words read to him and showed signs of a disease that had begun advancing possibly three or four years before.
The testimony, in a case that a 3rd District judge decided to keep open to journalists and the public, was the first unvarnished view of Ott’s mental condition during a time in elected office when his staff repeatedly denied he was suffering from a progressive illness.
Squire said he gave an examination to Ott in October 2013 that is designed to determine mental cognition. Ott received a 7 out of 30, Squires said. Anything under 26 is considered “possibly abnormal,” and the lower the score, “the more likely the cognitive impairment is.”
The finding affirmed what Charles Richardson, Ott’s family physician, had suspected that same year: Ott was likely suffering from a form of dementia that as of Thursday had progressed to severe Alzheimer’s disease, the family’s attorney, Mary Corporon, said.
Nevertheless, Ott, a Republican, remained in office nearly four more years following his initial diagnosis, including winning re-election in 2014. His top staff repeatedly denied he was suffering from a mental illness.
A video recording from his January 2015 swearing-in to a new term shows he struggled to repeat his oath of office, even his name, to Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen.
Before that time, Richardson said Thursday, Ott couldn’t read complex documents. He had difficulty remembering words during conversations only to recall them later on.
When Ott visited Richardson, the family physician, between nine and 12 times from August 2013 through January 2016, he would frequently be with Karmen Sanone, a former fiancée and employee who is fighting Ott’s family for his legal custody.
The visit when he first diagnosed Ott with dementia was so long ago, Richardson said, that he couldn’t recall with any certainty whether he discussed the condition with Sanone in the room.
“But I would assume that I did,” he said, given his notes and the number of office visits the two made.
Sanone and her attorney are arguing Ott signed a document – called an advanced health care directive – in January 2015, assigning her as his guardian should he need one in the future. They say she took care of Ott during his cognitive decline and that he should be in her care, not his family’s.
While the case is playing out before Judge Bruce Lubeck, Ott is in an undisclosed medical facility. He won’t appear in court during hearings Thursday and Friday.
Ott was apparently living with Sanone at her North Ogden farmhouse during his last years in office, according to court testimony and previous interviews. Loan payments on Ott’s Salt Lake County home equity loan and utility bills went unpaid for months, The Tribune found. He had interactions with police on at least three occasions from early 2016 through his negotiated resignation from office in August.
When Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams called for Ott’s resignation in June, Sanone denied Ott had a mental illness, but declined to discuss specifics.
“I’m not free to discuss his health,” she said. “That’s something that you need to talk to him and his doctors about. That’s protected by law.”
During his final interviews, Ott also denied he had dementia. Sanone and Ott’s deputy recorder, Julie Dole — who effectively ran the office during Ott’s final three years — referred to a case of shingles that they said may have caused irregularities the public was beginning to notice.
Dole also explained away Ott’s frequent absences from work as part of his hands-off management style.
Squire and Richardson said when they saw him in 2013, he’d had cognitive issues in every domain, particularly with his language.
Eric Keller, husband of Ott’s former chief deputy and a longtime friend, noted a decline in Ott’s public speaking as early as 2011, when Ott announced he would run for county mayor.
“Gary was never a great public speaker, but he was always proficient at it,” Keller said. “But on the day he announced he was running for mayor, he was stumbling through that.”
In September 2014, Keller said he ran into Ott at a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City. Ott was with Sanone and Dole, who was running his re-election campaign for recorder.
When he approached Ott, Keller said, “Karmen grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away ... out to her car and they’re out of there.”
Dole was hired by Ott just about the time he filed for re-election in early 2014 and she was listed as the manager of his campaign. Sanone was hired two days after his election victory, at the directive of Dole, who said she was acting on behalf of Ott.
The Tribune will update this story throughout the day.