Celebrities

Chicago Bears linebacker J.T. Thomas is facing a misdemeanor drug possession charge after police in West Virginia said they caught him driving the wrong way down a one-way street and found marijuana in his car.

Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston said the 23-year-old Thomas was charged Monday morning.

The officer who pulled him over detected the odor of marijuana, Preston said, and when Thomas retrieved information the officer had requested from the glove box, small plastic bags with marijuana fell out.

"We are aware of the arrest of J.T. Thomas in Morgantown, W.V.," The Bears said in a statement. "We are currently gathering information to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the arrest."

Thomas appeared in magistrate court for an initial arraignment and was released on his own recognizance.

It's unclear whether he has an attorney, but Preston said he did not have one in court.

Thomas was a rookie for the Bears in 2011 and spent the season on injured reserve.

The Bears said they were aware of the arrest and were trying to learn more about what happened.

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native was a three-year starter at West Virginia.

He was in town with some former Mountaineer teammates over the weekend to visit WVU Children's Hospital and to host a fundraiser for the Epilepsy Foundation.

His J.T. Thomas Foundation promotes leadership, education, youth sports and awareness of childhood disability. Morgantown was the next-to-last stop on his "Ready Ready Road Trip," which had started in Fort Lauderdale.

The trip included a stop in Chicago, where he surprised a 14-year old epilepsy patient with Super Bowl tickets. The teen and his mother attended the game with Thomas.

As a freshman at WVU, Thomas was arrested for transferring and receiving stolen property. Police said the stolen item was a laptop computer. Those charges were dropped once Thomas completed a diversionary program.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Even if welterweight Nick Diaz wanted another shot at the man who beat him in the Ultimate Fighting Championship last weekend, another marijuana-related incident means he won't get it.

Tests conducted for last Saturday's UFC 143 show in Las Vegas showed the presence of marijuana metabolites in Diaz's system, the Nevada Athletic Commission said Thursday. It's the second time for Diaz, who tested positive for the drug following a 2007 bout in Las Vegas.

A specific penalty for Diaz won't be decided until a hearing that probably will take place in April, said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada commission.

Diaz lost a unanimous decision to Carlos Condit in last weekend's main event. UFC hoped to put together an immediate rematch for the close fight, especially after Condit agreed to a sequel.

But Diaz's manager and lead trainer, Cesar Gracie, earlier this week dismissed the notion while hinting at his fighter's inability to compete any time soon. "Condit has accepted the rematch because he knows there's not going to be a rematch, bottom line," Gracie told USA TODAY on Wednesday.

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Currently the No. 2 welterweight in the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings, the enormously talented Diaz has seen his career interrupted multiple times by drug tests.

Nevada suspended him for six months following the February 2007 showdown with Takanori Gomi, who tapped out to a rare gogoplata submission. The official result of the fight was changed to a no-contest.

The California State Athletic Commission in August 2009 refused to license Diaz for a Strikeforce title fight after he did not appear for a drug test ordered on short notice. Diaz's camp thought it had a handshake deal with California regulators that precluded random testing, Gracie said at the time. Diaz normally needs 10 days to flush his system of marijuana to ensure that he passes drug tests, Gracie said.

Diaz has been a headache in other ways for his promoters. His history includes a few brawls after fights, a pair of skipped press events, frequent tardiness on conference calls and a several missed flights. Yet Diaz wouldn't be a problem if he would simply "play the game" by observing commonly accepted rules of behavior, said Dana White, president of UFC and Strikeforce parent Zuffa.

In a brief statement Thursday, White described himself as "beyond disappointed" by the positive test result, but left sanctions up to the Nevada commission.

For beating Diaz, Condit became UFC's interim welterweight titleholder while 170-pound champion Georges St. Pierre recovers from a knee injury. St. Pierre doesn't expect to return until October or November, so UFC hoped to set up another bout for Condit rather than keep him waiting for several months.

A rematch with Diaz could have been a lucrative event for the promotion, especially given the controversial decision last Saturday. While UFC President Dana White and other observers scored the bout for Condit, several MMA pros disagreed, including UFC fighters Dan Henderson, Josh Neer and Joe Lauzon, as well as former UFC champion Pat Miletich. UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan also viewed Diaz as the winner after watching the fight again.

But this week's incident likely means another suspension for Diaz. While that ruins UFC's hopes for another Condit-Diaz fight, it might have little effect on the near-term plans of Diaz.

Immediately after the scores were revealed in favor of Condit at UFC 143, Diaz expressed disgust at the judges' decision and announced his intention to retire from the sport. Although Gracie believes Diaz will return to fighting eventually, the fighter might need a temporary break from competition, the trainer said.

Diaz has been a vocal advocate of marijuana use for years.

"I think smoking pot is good for mixed martial artists," Diaz told Sherdog.com in September 2007. "I'm going to tell all you fighters out there something right now, from my experience: If you have friends that you get high with, get them to train with you."

Suge Knight has been arrested and jailed in Las Vegas. The Death Row Records founder was arrested after he was pulled over by police for committing a minor traffic offense. However, he had three outstanding traffic warrants to his name and police also found just under an ounce of marijuana in his possession, which is classed as a minor misdemeanour.

Police jailed the former hip-hop mogul for a short period, before releasing him on $2,600 bail, according to Reuters news agency. Suge Knight (real name Marion Knight) became notorious in the hip-hop world in the 1990s, for the part that he played in launching the careers of Snoop Dogg - who himself was recently arrested for possession of marijuana - and Tupac Shakur. The initial offence that he was pulled over for involved turning without making a proper signal.

It's not the first time that Suge Knight has been in trouble with the law. He was arrested in Las Vegas in 2008 on drug and assault charges. He had been accused of assaulting his girlfriend outside a strip club and threatening her with a knife. In 2009 he sought treatment for facial injuries that he sustained in a fight at a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona Then, in May 2010, Knight was arrested once more, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas -- Authorities say Hollywood actor Armie Hammer was arrested at a border patrol checkpoint in West Texas after a drug sniffing dog discovered marijuana in his car.

The 25-year-old, who starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in "J. Edgar," spent about a day in jail before paying a $1,000 bond.

Arrest records show he had 0.02 ounces of marijuana, three medicinal marijuana cookies and one brownie when arrested Nov. 20 in Sierra Blanca, a few miles from the Mexican border.

El Paso's district attorney declined to prosecute because a felony requires more than 4 ounces of actual marijuana. The county attorney could pursue lesser charges since the case is going back to the local sheriff, but Hammer's lawyer Kent Schaffer says no charges have been presented.

Hammer also starred in "The Social Network."

It didn't take long for Yu Darvish to experience his first lost in translation moment.

Fresh off a long flight from Japan, the newest Texas Rangers pitcher raised more than a few eyebrows in Dallas-Forth Worth on Friday by wearing a t-shirt with a symbol more closely associated with High Times magazine than Major League Baseball.

That's not exactly the type of thing that the Rangers want to see from a guy they just committed $111 million to, so what gives with the hazy decision? Was the newly-divorced Darvish announcing his intentions to, uh, broaden his horizons? Attempting to make new friends with Tim Lincecum? Playing a pretty good joke on the straight-laced Nolan Ryan?

None of the above, said the 25-year-old righthander, who was quickly asked about the t-shirt at his introductory press conference at Rangers Ballpark. According to several reporters on the scene, Darvish just said he likes to wear shirts with English writing and that he had no idea it signaled an interest in something more.

There was another explanation for the t-shirt, though, and it comes with the explanation that the shirt doesn't show a pot leaf at all.

Darvish received a different type of shirt later in the day. (AP)

According to Konnichiwhoa, reports out of Japan said the shirt depicts a Japanese maple leaf. And the story checks out if you look at this side-by-side illustration of a Japanese maple leaf and a cannabis leaf.

But even if it were a cannabis symbol, it apparently would not carry any extra connotation in Darvish's homeland —which is probably why he said he was in the dark on all the giggles he was hearing.

From Konnichiwhoa:

"In Japan, the marijuana leaf is a popular symbol without any real smoking context. Plenty of native Japanese have leafy t-shirts, or necklaces, or air fresheners in their cars, and don't really know that they're symbolizing a drug.

Marijuana is highly illegal in Japan. It's considered a hard drug, and that's why we recommend in our Japan travel guide that you leave it at home."

So the good news, I guess, is that the Rangers won't see their investment go up in an immediate puff of smoke. And despite the confusion, vendors outside Rangers Ballpark will have one more hot item to go with all those claws and antlers t-shirts they've been selling the past two years.

I'd buy one.