THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, September 8, 1994            TAG: 9409080512
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                         LENGTH: Medium:   70 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** James B. Balaban, the Chesapeake resident charged Sept. 2 with possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute, was briefly detained by federal agents and searched on July 25 at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The agents confiscated $60,000 from Balaban. A MetroNews story Thursday incorrectly said Balaban had been arrested. Correction published in The Virginian-Pilot on Friday, September 9, 1994, on page A2. ***************************************************************** CHESAPEAKE DOCTOR ARRESTED ON COCAINE, WEAPONS CHARGES HE'S ACCUSED OF BEING A MAJOR COCAINE SUPPLIER.

A physician has been arrested and charged with being a major cocaine supplier after a four-month investigation that involved three law-enforcement agencies, police said Wednesday.

Police seized more than $77,000 in cocaine, cash and property on Sept. 2 from the Great Bridge home of James B. Balaban, 34, of the 400 block of Tiki Way.

Balaban was charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute, and a weapons violation, said Chesapeake police spokesman Tony Torres.

Records filed Tuesday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court show that Balaban recently lived in Roanoke, where he was an anesthesiologist.

While he was in Roanoke, Virginia Beach detectives first learned he distributed large amounts of cocaine, according to the court records.

Balaban recently moved to Chesapeake. It was not clear late Wednesday whether Balaban still holds a medical license.

Detectives from Virginia Beach and Chesapeake executed searches Sept. 2 that targeted Balaban and a Virginia Beach man who police say is one of Balaban's distributors.

It was an investigation into the alleged distributor - identified as Gordon Fraser, 33, of the 600 block of Masefield Circle - that eventually led to Balaban, court affidavits show.

Fraser also owns a home in the 700 block of Wagons Way, according to the affidavit.

Authorities began researching Fraser and Balaban in April. They put the men under surveillance, used informants to buy drugs from Fraser and even picked through Balaban's trash, records show.

In the Sept. 2 search of Balaban's Great Bridge home, police seized $30,000 in cocaine, which is more than the street price of a kilogram. They also seized marijuana, $11,000 in cash, a pickup truck, two Jet Skis, three handguns and a rifle.

It was not clear Wednesday whether Fraser had been arrested.

Balaban is being held in Chesapeake City Jail on $75,000 bail.

It is not his first brush with the law.

On July 25, Balaban was arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport while on a trip to Tucson, Ariz., said U.S. Customs Agent Wayne Whitton. At the airport, customs officials seized $60,000 of suspected drug money from him, records show.

Whitton told detectives from Virginia Beach's Special Investigative Division that Tucson is a major hub for cocaine shipping.

Balaban also has been convicted of attempting to possess marijuana with the intent to distribute - a felony - and having a concealed weapon, court records show.

KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST by CNB