Retired Doctor Arrested for Drug Trafficking Aboard Yacht in Nantucket Harbor

A retired doctor was arrested after authorities allegedly discovered cocaine, ketamine, firearms and a woman who was suffering from a possible drug overdose aboard his 80-foot yacht in the Nantucket Harbor.

Scott Anthony Burke, 69, faces several charges, including “trafficking between 36 and 100 grams of cocaine, possession to distribute a Class A drug, unlawful firearm possession, and possession of a large capacity feeding device,” the Boston Globe reported. 

Authorities received a call on Tuesday at 7:47 a.m  that a woman was in “need of medical assistance” aboard the boat in the Massachusetts harbor. When police talked with her they said “she appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance” and she told them “she did not feel safe” aboard the boat. She was transported to Nantucket Cottage Hospital. 

In the main floor bedroom, which Burke admitted belongs to him, authorities found a .380 pistol, three 30-round 9 millimeter magazines, and a 12-round magazine “located inserted in a 9 millimeter pistol.”

“Inside the bedroom, in plain view, I observed a black semiautomatic handgun to be located on a bookshelf, that was on the right side of the bedroom,” the supplemental police report read.

“Multiple rounds of ammo were also found on the yacht’s bedroom floor,” the report added.

Burke said the firearms belonged to him and that he had a license for them in Florida, but the license had expired last year. 

He will be arraigned in Nantucket District Court on September 11.

Burke was first licensed to practice medicine in Colorado in 1981; that license expired in 2021, according to the Colorado Board of Medicine Records. 

He has addresses in Denver, Colorado, and Key West, Florida, according  the New York Post. 

As a practicing rehabilitation physician in Denver, Burke founded Injury Finance 20 years ago, which claims to be “the industry leader in medical funding” that was “created to serve an uninsured and under-insured population in need of medical treatment.”