New Jersey officials will implement “targeted enforcement” on illegal swimming
after a man drowned at an unguarded lake inside a state-managed forest, according to officials.
The 27-year-old swimmer died on Thursday at Penbryn Lake in Winslow Township’s Tansboro section, a rural area in South Jersey about 24 miles east of Philadelphia.
Winslow Township police on Monday declined to identify the man, adding that authorities did not investigate the death as a crime. The drowning was ruled “accidental in nature,” Township Police Capt. Cary Robinson said in an email to NJ Advance Media.
“We extend our deepest condolences to those affected by this tragedy and appreciate the public’s understanding and sensitivity during this difficult time,” Robinson said.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection “will adjust patrol frequency and do targeted enforcement operations in the area,” according to an agency spokesperson.
The agency closed five wildlife management areas
earlier this year to prevent unguarded swimming and off-road vehicle riding.
A witness saw the swimmer vanish beneath the surface before 3 p.m. Thursday. It was unclear if the witness was a bystander or was a friend of the swimmer.
The man’s body was retrieved from the water around 6 p.m. He was found in an area of the lake where he was last seen, police said. Downe Township’s dive team along with four other local emergency departments and the Camden County and Gloucester County Offices of Emergency Management were involved in the search.
The lake, off New Freedom Road, is a favorable feature of the Penbryn Pond Wildlife Management area, popular mostly for fishing. Swimming is forbidden at all of the state’s wildlife management areas.
“No Swimming” signs are posted at the Penbryn Lake Wildlife Management Area where the lake is located. The lake and surrounding wooded area are patrolled by the NJ Fish and Wildlife.
At over 100 acres, the protected forest is made mostly of wetland forest,
according to the NJDEP website
. The lake encompasses about 33 acres, the website states.
Thursday’s drowning is the third within a year at the lake. Last August, two friends, a 23-year-old Clementon man and a 24-year-old Gloucester Township resident,
died after dipping beneath the surface
and were recovered about two hours later.
A fourth man
, 35, drowned at the lake in 2020.
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