Party yacht doc Scott Burke, who was busted with drugs, guns and ‘prostitutes,’ has terminal cancer
The retired surgeon whose party yacht was busted in Nantucket Harbor last week with guns, drugs and alleged prostitutes aboard has stage 4 terminal cancer and is not expected to live much longer, his attorney revealed.
Scott Burke, 69, was described as a good citizen and a humanitarian who is living out his last days with late-stage cancer by defense attorney Henry Brennan.
The lawyer spoke last Thursday during a pretrial hearing, where he successfully argued against jailing his client.
“To have this man potentially spend the rest of his life waiting for a case in jail, to me, would be very, very tragic,” Brennan told Nantucket District Judge James Sullivan, according to the Nantucket Current.
Although Brennan declined to say what type of cancer Burke has “out of respect,” a captain working in the harbor told The Post he previously gave a ride to two people delivering “cancer medication” to Burke’s 80-foot vessel, the Jess Conn, the day after the doctor was arrested last Tuesday.
“I took out somebody who claimed to be a friend of the owner. He claimed to be bringing somebody — and I now know it’s the owner — his cancer medication to him,” said the captain, who asked to remain anonymous.
The captain also noted the people he gave a ride to then appeared to return with “more stuff than they went out with.”
Brennan said Burke, a Florida resident, had brought his vessell to Nantucket harbor and held a party with more than a dozen guests after which he was waiting for the ship’s captain to return from a wedding in order to depart when the trouble happened.
“The party was over and people went back their own ways. [Burke] was waiting for the captain to return. The young woman, who was actually a friend of the captain and on staff, asked to stay a few extra days.”
Her clarified to The Post monday that Burke is planning on heading back to Florida as soon as he can, saying: “He has a large boat and there’s a process for moving it, including obtaining a captain and a crew. It is his intention to return to Florida to be with his family.”
Along with revealing Burke’s medical condition, Brennan told the court the surgeon and father of two was among those who volunteered in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquakes and that he completed more than 110 surgeries there.
The lawyer also claimed Burke has given away the vast majority of his wealth to colleges and scholarships, all while asking for nothing in return.
Given his terminal diagnosis, charity work and lack of a criminal record, Brennan pushed for Burke’s release on bail, which the judge agreed to, setting his bond at $200,000.
However, the judge said he had trouble reconciling the character painted by Brennan and the crimes Burke is charged with.
Sullivan said: “The amount of cocaine is where the court has a tough time justifying or connecting the two versions of Mr. Burke.
“Obviously, he has a substantial history in terms of his employment and in terms of the aid that he’s rendered to numerous people in his career as a physician. I’m then somewhat puzzled how we get from there to a boat in Nantucket Harbor with cocaine in it.”
Burke has since posted bail at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, walking free over the weekend. His vessel, which is also said to be his primary residence, remained in the Nantucket Harbor on Monday morning.
At least three men were spotted aboard the Jess Conn, who waved at Post reporters, but remained silent.
Police raided Burke’s ship last week after a they received a call that a woman was overdosing on drugs and wanted to be taken off the boat.
Responding officers found several guns onboard — along with 43 grams of cocaine and 14 grams of ketamine, according to police reports. The Nantucket Current also reported a number of women who were on the boat were prostitutes.
Brennan pushed back against those claims, noting no charges related to prostiution had been brought in the case.
“There’s not even a hint, not even a mention … of prostitution or sex trafficking,” Brennan said, adding: “It’s an abuse of his reputation that can never get taken back.”
Residents in the area also told the post a fight erupted between two women right before authorities got to the vessel.
Another boat captain who asked to remain anonymous told The Post he also took a passenger he described as “25, 30 years old. Thin, with dark hair,” to the Jess Conn last Wednesday afternoon, the day after the arrests. She said she wanted to get her stuff off the boat.
“I thought she was a deckhand on the boat is what I assumed,” the second boat captain said, adding “she needed to get her stuff off the boat but the Coast Guard said no one could go on [board].”
“It’s kind of shocking to know that kind of s—t went down,” he added of the alleged crimes that have rocked the small Nantucket community.
Burke faces drug and weapons trafficking charges and was arraigned at Plymouth District Court. He has pleaded not guilty.
