Who Is Thomas Ross? Republican Charged With Trying To Plant Drugs On Opponent
Missouri Republican Thomas Ross is accused of asking a campaign aide to plant cocaine on his primary opponent.
Thomas Christopher Ross, a 37-year-old Republican candidate for Missouri's House District 161, has been charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, according to prosecutors. Ross won the Republican nomination for the district last month, narrowly defeating opponent Louise Secker by just 33 votes.
According to court documents, Ross allegedly instructed his campaign manager to plant drugs on Secker's person or vehicle while Ross was away. The staffer was provided with a black nylon glove containing a small bag of cocaine and an Adderall capsule, a Schedule II controlled substance. The plan reportedly involved Ross sending an anonymous tip to the police after the Joplin Police Department referred the scheme to the FBI.
Upon learning of the alleged plot, the former campaign manager reportedly cooperated with investigators and secretly recorded Ross, who allegedly responded to the proposal with the statement, "If you can pull it off... pull it off." Newsweek has reached out to Ross's campaign for comment outside of regular business hours.
Written by urgent.news from Newsweek's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
