A yacht once raided by police who found guns, drugs and prostitutes on board is docked in Bangor.
The Kestrel docked Friday on the Penobscot River in front of Sea Dog Brewing Company. The yacht traveled to Bangor from Portland, according to My Ship Tracking.
The Kestrel was formerly known as Jess Conn, according to Boat International. It was most recently sold in 2024. Public records do not reveal who now owns the boat.
The yacht was at the center of a 2023 scandal when police and federal agents raided the Jess Conn in Nantucket. Its then-owner, retired doctor Scott Burke, was charged for gun and drug possession before selling the boat back to its manufacturer. The last known asking price was nearly $6 million, according to SuperYacht Times.
While it is not the biggest yacht that has recently docked in Maine, it is rare for one that large to travel to Bangor, let alone one with such a lurid history.
The yacht has a private rental of its dockspace and will stay overnight, Bangor Harbormaster Tracy Willette said.
“The one that’s there today is unusual,” Willette said. “We have had them before, however, but certainly not as common as some of our smaller recreational boats.”
The Kestrel is registered in Georgetown, Cayman Islands. It was flying that country’s flag, as well as two American flags, a Bangor Daily News reporter saw.
It runs nearly 75 feet long, with four cabins that can accommodate up to eight guests and four crew members, according to Boat International. The boat is adorned with a cherry wood interior and features a hot tub and elevator.
Police and federal agents raided the boat in September 2023 after a woman was evacuated from the yacht, the Current reported. Police originally responded to the yacht for a wellness check, after a woman called a friend to say “they were doing drugs all weekend long and people on the boat had been making pornographic films,” according to police reports, the Current reported.
The friend called the police because he was worried the woman may have overdosed. Police said they found her in a bedroom on the boat where drugs and guns were in plain sight. They also found cocaine, ketamine, two pistols and various ammunition, the Current said.
After Burke, the owner at the time, was criminally charged, he sold the boat back to its manufacturer, Nordhavn, the Current reported. The new crew found trash and dog feces strewn across the boat before it left Nantucket in mid-September 2023.
Burke, then 70, was sentenced in June 2024 to a year of probation for four charges, including possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of a gun without the necessary identification, according to the Nantucket Current.