Busted retired Dr. Scott Anthony Burke freed after posting $200G bail

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The retired doctor busted aboard a luxurious yacht allegedly filled with prostitutes, drugs and guns off Nantucket is walking free after posting $200,000 bail, The Post has learned.

Married 69-year-old dad and former spine doc Scott Anthony Burke was sprung loose last week, Nantucket deputies said Sunday, adding that Massachusetts law stipulates bails must be paid in full.

Burke posted bail at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility about a day after his arrest aboard his 82-foot yacht Jess Conn on Tuesday morning, police said.

Local marina workers and fishermen said they have seen people relaxing onboard the doctor’s yacht — which remains anchored in the ritzy harbor — since Burke’s release. It is unclear whether the former doctor is among them or if he is still on the island at all.

“There are people on the boat, but I don’t know who they are,” an angler said Sunday.

“Yesterday, I saw two males. … They were just sitting in the back with hats and glasses on. Just two people sitting in the shadows.” 

On Sunday afternoon, the yacht’s top-deck hot tub appeared to have been recently used, with its cover pulled back and a towel draped over a nearby deck chair.


Scott Anthony Burke, 69, pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons trafficking charges in court on Wednesday
Retired Dr. Scott Anthony Burke, 69, pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons trafficking charges in court Wednesday
Boston Globe via Getty Images

“Thursday, I saw a female in the back,” the fisherman said.

The worker said he wasn’t sure if one of the men had been Burke.

“He looks like most of the millionaires around here. They look like they’ve been eating in restaurants for the last 30 years. A lot of booze, a lot of salt, a lot of cream,” the fisherman said. 

“They were real low-key before they got busted,” the man added of the boat’s occupants.

Burke was bagged when cops were alerted to a woman requiring “medical assistance” on the yacht after possibly suffering an overdose onboard.


Burke's 82-foot yacht remains anchored in Nantucket Harbor. People are reportedly onboard, though it is unclear who
Burke’s 82-foot yacht remains anchored in Nantucket Harbor, where people are reportedly onboard.
James Keivom

Responding police transported the woman to a nearby hospital — and discovered about 14 grams of ketamine, around 43 grams of cocaine, a loaded 9mm pistol along with a trio of 30-round magazines, and a .380 pistol on the boat.

A bedroom floor was also littered with loose ammunition, according to a police report.

After he was cuffed, Burke allegedly confessed that he owned the guns and told officers where others were stored.

“Scott Burke does not possess a valid [license to carry] or [firearm identification] card,” the poice report said.

Burke was hit with drug and weapons trafficking charges in an arraignment at Plymouth District Court Wednesday. He pleaded not guilty.


Burke was held in Barnstable County Correctional Facility for about a day before he posted bail and was let go
Burke was held in Barnstable County Correctional Facility for about a day before he posted bail and was freed.
Facebook/Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office

Island locals — who say drugs and sex are par-for-the-course for many of the isle’s elite visitors — have been getting a kick out of aspects of the tawdry situation.

“Everyone’s cracking up. We think it’s hilarious,” said a 61-year-old Nantucket native who asked not to be named. “Everybody does that. He got busted, that’s it.”

But Burke’s weapons crossed a line, they said.

“The guns [are] a completely different ballgame,” the local said.


Marina workers have said whoever remains onboard Burke's yacht have not been welcomed back onto the land
Marina workers have said whoever remains onboard Burke’s yacht have not been welcomed back onto the land
James Keivom

Marina workers said that whoever is on the boat now has not been welcomed on land.

“Someone came in a tender, and they tried to get sandwiches or something from the island,” a worker who asked to remain anonymous said.

“They tried to come to the marina, and we told them to leave.”

A married father of two, Burke ran a spine and rehabilitation clinic out of Colorado before retiring in 2021.

He now lives in the exclusive Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla.

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