By Jane Musgrave
Facing a possible life sentence, Mark David Anderson on Wednesday accepted a plea deal that will allow him to be freed in two years in connection with the 2023 shooting death of a popular Delray Beach computer tech at a beachside condominium.
Anderson didn’t admit guilt in connection with the gunshot slaying of 58-year-old Albert Camentz during an alcohol and drug-fueled get-together at Berkshire by the Sea, 126 N. Ocean Boulevard in Delray Beach, about a block north of Atlantic Avenue.
Instead, the 48-year-old Lake Worth Beach man took what is called a “best interest” plea. That means he didn’t admit guilt but agreed to be punished, acknowledging that he could have been found guilty of second-degree murder at a trial that was to begin Monday.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Bradley Harper found Anderson guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter. He sentenced him to five years in prison.
But Harper gave Anderson credit for the 1,107 days he has spent in the county jail. That means Anderson will be released from prison in two years.
The plea deal ends the bizarre case that was compromised when one of the two witnesses — Jack Feinberg — fatally shot himself last summer.
Feinberg, the former longtime director of Broward Addiction Recovery Center, and his wife, Susan Schneider, told Delray Beach police they didn’t know Camentz had been shot when they drove him from Berkshire by the Sea to their home west of Delray Beach.
In court papers, defense attorneys Mike Dutko and Robert Gentile said it was reasonable to assume that Feinberg, not Anderson, was the shooter.
But Schneider was unequivocal. She told police: “Mark shot Al.”
Still, Anderson’s attorneys pointed out, the couple’s stories of the shooting changed and there was no good explanation as to why they didn’t get medical help for Camentz immediately.
The unfolding events
Anderson invited Feinberg and Schneider to the timeshare he was renting after running into them at a bar in Boca Raton. On the way to Anderson’s timeshare, Camentz called Feinberg on the phone. Although Camentz didn’t know Anderson, he agreed to join them.
During the party that began after midnight, cocaine, marijuana, ketamine, nitrous oxide along with beer and other alcohol flowed freely, according to court documents.
Both Feinberg and Schneider told police that the four were getting along well. A small disagreement erupted over what Feinberg described as religious views. But, Feinberg said, Camentz wasn’t involved in the short-lived dispute.
As Camentz, Feinberg and Anderson talked, Schneider said she decided she wanted to take a dip in the hot tub, according to police. Schneider said she went to get a towel and Anderson disappeared into the bedroom.
When Anderson returned, Schneider said he was holding “a black object with both hands extended,” police reported. Anderson pointed at Camentz and a deafening explosion ripped through the apartment.
Feinberg fell off the couch, but got to his feet laughing. Camentz clutched his chest, saying he couldn't breathe.
Schneider told police she didn’t see any blood or holes in Camentz shirt and thought he might be having a heart attack. She said she wanted to take Camentz to Delray Medical Center, but he said he was feeling better and wanted to sleep at the couple’s house.
When they arrived at the house in the Floral Lakes community off West Atlantic Avenue, she said Camentz turned ghostly white and began complaining of chest pain. She called 911.
In a report, paramedics said they immediately determined that Camentz had been shot or stabbed. They took him to Delray Medical Center where he was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Police investigation
When police approached Feinberg at the hospital to ask him about the shooting, Feinberg said he was going to the hot tub when he heard a loud bang.
He said he didn’t know the name of the building where the shooting took place. His memory, he said, was muddled because he suffered from a “cognitive disorder,” the detective wrote.
He didn’t elaborate, but in his March 2023 resignation from the government-funded addiction treatment agency, Feinberg said that an unidentified illness he got during the pandemic had gotten worse.
After police told Feinberg that Camentz had died, he refused to answer any more questions without an attorney.
By the time police arrived at the couple’s house, Feinberg was already there. Detective John Caceres Duque said he heard Feinberg yelling at his wife, telling her not to answer any questions without an attorney. Schneider ignored her husband. She told Caceres where the shooting occurred and identified Anderson as the shooter.
With Schneider’s information, police went to Berkshire by the Sea on State Road A1A, found Anderson sleeping and arrested him. They found three blood spatters on an outside wall, later identified as belonging to Camentz.
A day after he refused to talk to Caceres, Feinberg changed his mind.
During a meeting with Caceres at the Ray Hotel in downtown Delray Beach, Feinberg confirmed what his wife had already told the detective. There hadn’t been any animosity between Camentz and Anderson. The four were having a good time.
The shooting was inexplicable, he said.
“I don’t know, why would he come out and done some sort of thing with some sort of weapon,” he told Caceres.
A licensed mental health counselor, Feinberg suggested Anderson may have been in a psychotic state. He suspected that Anderson had taken liquid LSD, along with other drugs, causing him to hallucinate.
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