Harold Scott Berkey

A Cape Coral man is serving a 10-year prison sentence for attempted murder after he stabbed a man several times in April at a pool hall.

Harold Scott Berkey, 40, of 5034 Sorrento Court, pleaded no contest on June 6 to attempted first-degree premeditated murder in a plea deal and was adjudicated guilty. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by five years of community supervision.

Berkey was incarcerated on June 16, according to official documents.

Assistant State Attorney Frank Pauzar III prosecuted the case.

At about 11 p.m. on April 2, Cape police responded to a disturbance call at Rack Em’ Billiards, at 1011 Cape Coral Parkway E., and found several people detaining Berkey. They told police Berkey had attacked and stabbed a man.

The victim, identified as Richard Falb, was transported with life-threatening injuries to Lee Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and later released.

Detectives learned that earlier in the evening Falb had been on a break from his job when he met a woman at the pool hall and the two started talking. The woman is an ex-girlfriend of Berkey, who was also present and saw the two.

Falb returned to work and the woman went to dinner with friends.

Berkey then sent two text messages to the woman’s phone stating that he was going back to the pool hall to “stab people” and that he was “ready to go to prison,” according to police. The woman did not know about the messages until after the stabbing.

After work, Falb returned to the pool hall and again saw the woman who had returned from her dinner. The two were talking when Berkey approached and attacked Falb without provocation, striking him around the torso and neck.

Falb told police that he felt pain in his neck and then noticed blood running down his chest. Falb then looked down and saw a knife in Berkey’s hand.

At that time, Berkey was grabbed by a group of people and detained.