A 17-year-old from Largo died Tuesday morning after he cliff-dove Monday afternoon into an inactive lime rock mining quarry located on NW Gainesville Road in Ocala.
Trey Austin Dagwan Cardozo was found unresponsive in the quarry at about 3:45 p.m. Monday. He died at Ocala Regional Medical Center.
The cause of death is pending further investigation by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Several hours before Cardoza’s accident, 12 adults and one juvenile were arrested in a separate incident for trespassing on private property to swim in the inactive lime rock quarry located at the 2500th block of NW 77th Street in Ocala. On June 25, three juveniles were arrested for trespassing on private property in this same area. They told Marion County sheriff’s deputies they were swimming in the quarry and taking pictures, knowing they were trespassing on private property. No one was injured during these incidents.
Cardoza is the second person to have died as a result of trespassing on private property and diving/swimming in a Marion County lime rock quarry this summer. On May 27, 18-year old Zachary Isaiah Newton from Tampa drowned in a lime rock quarry at the Hard Rock Cycle Park located at the 6800th block of NW Gainesville Road.
“In all of these cases, these individuals saw videos of trespassers cliff diving into Ocala quarries on social media and wanted to try it themselves,” said Lauren Lettelier, public information officer with the sheriff’s office.