A suspect has been arrested in connection with Thursday's incident in which nine students were hospitalized for a possible overdose after eating laced brownies, officials said.

A large amount of marijuana, as well as cocaine and brownies, were found at the home of the suspect, who is not a student, Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesman John Schuster said.

Miami-Dade Schools Police arrested Dionisio Lockridge, 22, for possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of cocaine, and possession of Xanax, according to Schuster. It was not immediately known whether Lockridge has an attorney.

The brownies have been sent to the Miami-Dade crime lab for testing.

The nine students from Miami Coral Park Senior High School were taken to Miami Children's Hospital, South Miami Hospital and Kendall Regional, Schuster said earlier. Another student received treatment but was not transported by fire rescue, he said.

It was unknown what was in the food they ate.

"Miami-Dade Schools Police are investigating the matter to identify the substance that the students ingested as well as the source of the substance," the school district said in an email statement.

More news from NBCMiami.com

Earlier, aerial footage showed two ambulances parked in front of the school, located at 8865 Southwest 16th Street in Miami, and authorities waiting outside with a stretcher.

"The students were transported as a precautionary measure," the school board said in a statement. "Miami-Dade Schools Police are investigating the matter to identify the substance the students ingested as well as the source of the substance."

A student told NBC 6 that Thursday morning, a number of students were selling brownies to their peers, and then moments later, after ingesting the food, many got violently ill.

"I saw the kids throwing up. There were kids who were very itchy," said student Danivellis Torres.

Another student said she saw kids passing out.

"I'm very nervous. I don't understand what happened here," said parent Cecilia Mantilla.

Danny Johnston / Danny Johnston / AP, file

Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Benton, right, listens as Artee Williams, director of Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, speaks at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark — The Republican-led Arkansas state Senate approved a measure on Monday that would require random drug testing of Arkansas residents who receive state unemployment benefits — a plan that the state's Democratic governor said could violate federal law.

The bill, which passed on a 25-5 vote and now goes to a House committee, could affect about 85,000 Arkansas residents currently receiving unemployment benefits.

If the measure becomes law, those seeking unemployment benefits would have to sign a waiver and allow for random drug testing. Those who refuse to sign or who test positive for drugs would not be entitled to benefits.

Some other states have adopted measures making a person discharged from work for failing an employer's drug test on the job ineligible to collect employment benefits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has a proposal in that state's legislature that would require drug tests for both unemployment and welfare recipients. But it has not yet passed a chamber.

The Arkansas bill's sponsor, Republican state Senator Jeremy Hutchinson, said that his measure was "more of an enforcement mechanism than anything else."

"Arkansas law states that you have to be adequately seeking employment, and by that you have to pass a drug test since so many employers require drug tests," Hutchinson said.

He said that 80 percent of the state's employers require a drug test. The unemployment testing, Hutchinson said, would cost the state less than $30,000 a year to administer.

Rita Sklar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said the group plans to fight the measure if it becomes law. Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, also has issues with the bill.

"We have concerns about whether the bill will put us in violation of the federal unemployment laws administered by the U.S. Department of Labor," said Matt DeCample, Beebe's spokesman. "There are also continued concerns as to whether the cost of implementing such a program would produce any real savings in offset."

Michael Brewer was booked into jail in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 21. Brewer, 18, is charged with possession of cocaine, marijuana and a controlled substance without a prescription.

A Florida teen who survived a horrific torching by three classmates after an argument over money was arrested early Wednesday on drug charges.

Michael Brewer, 18, was arrested during a traffic stop in West Palm Beach after police found pot, crack cocaine, prescription pills, 14 glass pipes, a two-foot-tall bong and other paraphernalia in the white van.

After a judge ordered him released on his own recognizance, Brewer's court-appointed lawyer said the charges -- a mix of felonies and misdemeanors -- were "not that serious," NBC's Palm Beach affiliate WPTV reported.

In 2009, Brewer was critically injured when three other teens doused him in rubbing alcohol and threw a lit match on him. He jumped into a pool to put out the flames, but was burned over 60 percent of his body and spent months in the hospital.

“I just remember a cold liquid going down my back and then I started walking and then I started feeling burning. And then I started running,” Brewer testified at the trial of one of the teens.

"I felt like I was going to die."

He originally told police the assailants were upset after an argument over a $40 video game but admitted on the stand that was a lie. The dispute was actually over drug paraphernalia one boy wanted to sell the victim.

One of the suspects, Denver Jarvis, was sentenced to eight years in prison and 22 years probation, though the probation was reduced to 10 years this week.

Jesus Mendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Matthew Bent, the alleged ringleader, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:17 PM EDT

Rick Lee / Office of the Mayor

Charleston, W.V., Mayor Danny Jones issued a statement saying he was "relieved" when his son was arrested on a drug charge and asked law enforcement to treat him the same as anyone else.

A West Virginia mayor issued an extraordinary statement Thursday after his son was arrested on cocaine charges, saying he was "relieved" and begging law-enforcement not to go easy on him.

"I know that the only things that might save his life are isolation and yes, incarceration," Charleston Mayor Danny Jones wrote in an email to reporters after his 23-year-old son Zachary was busted for the third time in five years.

"If in jail or prison, I know that Zac has a better chance at living than on the outside. This is because Zac is a hopeless drug addict who has broken the heart and the will of everyone and anyone who has tried to help him," the statement continued.

Jones told NBC News that it was "heartbreaking" to write those words, but he believes tough love is the only answer for his son. He said his son's mother had custody of him growing up but that he also had a close relationship with him.

Charleston, W.V., police department

Zachary Jones, son of the mayor of Charleston, W.V., was arrested Thursday on a drug charge. His father said he was relieved and thinks jail will save his life.

"I've done everything a parent could do to try and help him," he said. "He's been detoxed at least a half-dozen times and I paid to put him through rehab twice."

Charleston police confirmed that Zachary Jones was arrested for driving under the influence in 2008, pleaded guilty and was fined $100. He was arrested for heroin possession in 2011; the case was dismissed after he completed rehab and agreed to enter the military, which he failed to do, his lawyer said.

On Thursday morning, police conducting a traffic stop arrested Jones, along with a 24-year-old Detroit man, and charged both with possession of an ounce of cocaine with intent to deliver, according to the criminal complaint.

The young man is being held in the local jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.

William Forbes, an attorney who represented the son in the heroin case and was retained again Thursday, said his client told him "he loves his father and understands" why he made the statement.

“He’s a really, really nice kid with a really bad addiction problem,” Forbes said, adding that he counseled his client to stay in jail for the moment. “The mayor loves in his son very much.”

When the younger Jones was escorted by officers out of the police station, his father, the assistant mayor and the police chief stood in a line and stared at him.

"I could tell from his body language -- he hung his head and kind of shook his head -- that he was maybe embarrassed," said Police Chief Brent Webster.

Webster said the mayor had spoken to him in the past about his son's drug problem.

"He's told me, 'I don't want to get a call at two in the morning that he's been killed. I'd rather hear he's in jail," the police chief said.

The mayor said that in 2011, a friend bailed his son out of jail. He hopes that doesn't happen this time.

"I plead with those in the law-enforcement, judicial and jail and prison system to treat my son no better or worse than any other defendant," he said in his statement. "My son does not need anyone to save him from taking this life-saving fall."

The mayor, who said he has been sober for 19 years, said he hopes his statement will be a "moment of clarity" for his son and inspire other parents facing a similar situation to take action.

He said he also wanted to make it clear that he has never tried to use his position to get his son off the hook.

Asked whether some people might find his comments harsh, he said, "I don't care. Anybody who thinks it's really harsh hasn't dealt with this on a personal basis."

"I think the only place that's safe for him is jail, and I'm sorry to say it," he added.

A very eventful trip to a Safeway grocery store ended with a California man's arrest after police say they found him in a bathroom with porn, drugs, and a child.

Police in El Cerrito, Calif. were responding to a shoplifting report early Sunday morning when alerted that a man had been spotted in the women's bathroom with a small child, a pornographic magazine and the heavy smell of smoke.

The 32-year-old El Sobrante, Calif. man was found by police in the men's bathroom, where he admitted to having been in the women's bathroom where he smoked a marijuana cigarette laced with cocaine, according to the incident report. Officers determined the man was under the influence of a controlled substance and arrested him.

The Californian also admitted to stealing a bottle of soda from the Safeway.

A young girl originally discovered the drug and porn-filled binge when she entered the women's bathroom. The girl told her mother, who alerted store employees.

Police just happened to already be on scene after responding to a complaint about a woman who had stolen batteries from the grocery store

The whereabouts of the child with him are unknown, according to NBCBayArea.com.

Police arrested the unidentified man on suspicion of theft, drug possession, possessing of drug paraphernalia and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

One of the two suspects who was the subject of an intense manhunt following a shootout with detectives at a West Kendall, Fla., home has been found dead in an apparent suicide, police said Wednesday.

Miami-Dade Police confirmed that the body of Dell Peter DiGiovanni was found in the area of Southwest 48th Terrace and Southwest 147th Place, as officers conducted a massive manhunt following the Tuesday night shootout.

The discovery came just hours after a burned body was found inside the home in the 15400 block of Southwest 57th Street where the incident began. The body found in the home hasn't been identified.

Police had been searching for Digiovanni, 50, and relative Michael Steven DiGiovanni, 28, following the shooting that happened around 7:15 p.m. when detectives approached the home and came under fire from the suspects.

VIDEO: West Kendall House On Fire Morning After Shootout

As detectives returned fire, the house caught fire, police said. None of the officers were injured.

A third suspect, Brian Kelly Howell, 29, was taken into custody after officers set up a perimeter from Miller Drive to 64th Avenue and from SW 142nd Avenue to SW 157th Avenue, Miami-Dade Police said. 

Police had said Dell and Michael DiGiovanni were said to be on the run and likely armed and dangerous.

Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said the suspects were related but the exact nature of their relationship was unknown.

Zabaleta had earlier said there was still a possibility that someone, including one of the suspects, could be inside the house that was set on fire.

"We have not been able to enter or process the house itself because of the fact that it's still considered to be unsafe, fire has not been able to get to it because it's still too hot," Zabaleta said Wednesday.

When officers and firefighters entered the home Wednesday morning, they discovered the body.

Police said it wasn't immediately clear if all of the men shot at police. Narcotics units were investigating a possible grow house at the home, police said.

Cop Stabbed By Escaped Prisoner Returns to Miami

"These individuals obviously attempted to kill an officer so the very minimum you're gonna have attempted murder on a law enforcement officer," Zabaleta said of the charges they'll face.

Neighbor Rodrigo Ruez said he heard what sounded like automatic guns and backup fire.

"It sounded like the world was ending because everybody was panicking, 'cause everybody heard the shootings,” said Ruez, who was minutes away from his home when he heard the gunshots.

VIDEO: West Miami-Dade Shootout Caught on Camera; Suspect Arrested

Smoke had billowed out of the burning home late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning as Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel waited in the area, ready to move in at a moment's notice.

Dozens of police officers were on the scene Tuesday, some of them walking around with rifles.

Some West Kendall residents were kept away from their homes as police searched. Ashley Diaz, like dozens of people, could not get into her home.

She said she was coming back from Target when she found her way blocked, so she stopped at a gas station – where she had been ever since.

“We’re stuck. We can’t go that way, we can’t go that way,” Diaz said, pointing in opposite directions.

Fugitive Wanted for Hialeah Shootout Captured: Cops

The perimeter mostly impacted two housing developments in the area – Lakes of the Meadows and Westwood Lakes.

"This is where I live, and it’s just not safe anymore," said displaced resident Anthony Guzman. "People have kids growing up here. It’s not right.”

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:59 PM EST

Damian Dovarganes /AP, file

Drug lord Joaquin Guzman is seen in a June 10, 1993 file photo.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is being singled out for his role as leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, which supplies the bulk of narcotics sold in the city, according to the Chicago Crime Commission and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 

"Not since the Chicago Crime Commission's first Public Enemy No. 1 has any criminal deserved this title more than Joaquin Guzman," J.R. Davis, president of 94-year-old Chicago Crime Commission, said in remarks prepared for an announcement later Thursday. 

It was the Chicago Crime Commission that designated Capone Public Enemy No. 1 in 1930. The non-government body that tracks city crime trends called other people public enemies, but Capone was the only one to ever be its No. 1. 

Until now. 

Unlike Capone, Guzman doesn't live in Chicago. He lives hundreds of miles away in a mountain hideaway in western Mexico. But for all the havoc he creates in the nation's third-largest city, he ought to be treated as a local Chicago crime boss, the DEA's top Chicago official, Jack Riley, told The Associated Press in a recent interview. His office is joining the Chicago Crime Commission in handing out the moniker to Guzman. 

"In my opinion, Guzman is the new Al Capone of Chicago," Riley says in remarks prepared for Thursday. 

More ruthless than Capone?
Capone based his bootlegging and other criminal enterprises out of Chicago during Prohibition, when it was illegal to make or sell alcohol in the U.S. He eventually went to prison for income tax evasion, but he gained the most notoriety for the St. Valentine's Day Massacre 84 years ago that left seven rivals dead. 

Yet Riley says Guzman is more ruthless than Capone. 

"If I was to put those two guys in a ring, El Chapo would eat that guy (Capone) alive," Riley said while pointing to pictures of the men in his office. 

Sinaloa and other Mexican cartels shipping drugs to Chicago are rarely directly linked to slayings in the city, but Riley said cartel-led drug trafficking is an underlying cause of territorial battles between street gangs that are blamed for rising homicide rates. Riley described Chicago as one of Sinaloa's most important cities, not only as an end destination for drugs but as a hub to distribute drugs across the U.S. 

"This is where Guzman turns his drugs into money," he said. 

Despite his nickname — "El Chapo" means "shorty" in Spanish — Guzman is one of the world's most dangerous and most wanted outlaws. He's also one of the richest: Forbes magazine has estimated the value of his fortune at around $1 billion. 

Guzman has been indicted on federal trafficking charges in Chicago and, if he is ever captured alive, U.S. officials want him extradited here to face trial. The U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward for his capture. 

"His time is coming," Guzman said. "I can't wait for that day." 

A former Connecticut priest who was charged in a federal crystal meth case sold the drug out of his Waterbury apartment, as well as the parking lot of an adult specialty store and smoke shop that he bought in the fall, according to court documents. 

Investigators believe that Msg. Kevin Wallin, 61, bought the store with drug proceeds and might have intended to use it to launder drug money, according to the complaint.

Drug Enforcement Agents in New Haven started investigating Wallin in July 2012 after New York drug investigators contacted them to look into a Connecticut-based drug trafficker distributing crystal meth in the tri-state are.

In September, New York authorities again contacted local officials and identified Wallin as a suspect in the distribution ring.

Between September 2012 and January 2013, an undercover officer bought crystal meth from Wallin six times, according to federal officials, and determined that Wallin sold drugs to users as well as distributors.

Read more on NBCConnecticut.com.

The documents released on Thursday state that the priest had a large resealable bag filled with crystal meth, a safe in his apartment that contained a large quantity and cash and drug packaging materials that included color-coded resealable bags.

Officials also charged Kenneth Devries, 52, of Waterbury, with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Devries lived in an apartment in the same building as Wallin. According to court documents, Wallin paid his rent and the man would allegedly run the drug operation when Wallin was away.   

Officials also charged Michael Nelson, 40, from Manchester; Chad McCluskey, 43, from San Clemente, Calif.; and Kristen Laschober, 47, from Laguna Niguel, Calif..

McCluskey and Laschober are accused of supplying the drugs to Wallin, and court documents indicate that almost $20,000 worth of crystal meth passed between them between August and December.    

The complaint also mentions that Wallin spent some time in drug rehabilitation last fall after his employer ordered him.

Wallin resigned as pastor of Bridgeport's St. Augustine Parish in June 2011 after nine years. 

According to the Diocese of Bridgeport, Wallin told parishioners "that he was struggling with a number of health and personal issues" and he was granted a sabbatical.

"During his sabbatical, the Diocese became concerned about Msgr. Wallin's well-being and have continued to reach out to him," the diocese wrote in a statement. "To date, he has not spoken directly with diocesan officials."

A Miami police sergeant who authorities say planted cocaine on a suspect and stole drugs and money from dealers has been convicted of civil rights violations, narcotics distribution conspiracy and obstruction of justice, the United States Attorney's Office said Friday.

Raul Iglesias, 40, who was with the Miami Police Department for 18 years, was found guilty by a jury after a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, the Attorney's Office said.

"A law enforcement badge brings with it privileges and responsibilities," U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said in a statement. "Although it bestows on the bearer the trust and respect of the community, the bearer is expected to preserve that trust through his actions: by following the law, doing what is right, and seeking to do justice."

Ferrer said that Iglesias "did just the opposite: he broke the law by planting drugs on a private citizen, distributing drugs, obstructing justice, and making false statements."

Iglesias ran the Central District's Crime Suppression unit, which targeted drug traffickers. Rick Diaz, the attorney who represented Iglesias, had defended his client, accusing undercover detectives and FBI agents of setting up Iglesias by planting incriminating evidence on him in a sting.

Read more news on NBCMiami.com

An indictment cited at least four dates when Iglesias allegedly stole or planted drugs, or lied to investigators. One date was Jan. 27, 2010, when Iglesias allegedly ordered two of his officers to search a man, and when no drugs were found, Iglesias allegedly asked his officers for some "throw-down dope" to plant on the man.

Iglesias was convicted of eight counts, including two civil rights violations, conspiracy to possess and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, obstruction of justice and making false official statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Iglesias' sentencing is scheduled for March 28. He faces a maximum of up to 20 years in prison.