A Republican candidate for the Missouri State House faces federal charges after allegedly orchestrating a scheme to plant controlled substances in his primary opponent’s vehicle. Thomas Christopher Ross, who secured the Republican nomination last month for District 161 in Joplin, was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
According to a criminal complaint released Thursday, authorities uncovered the plot involving allegations that Ross attempted to place cocaine and Adderall in the car of Louise Secker, whom he defeated by just 33 votes in the recent primary.
The investigation began in July when Ross’s campaign manager contacted police, delivering a bag of cocaine and an Adderall pill provided by the candidate. Law enforcement confirmed the substances were real through testing. At the time, the manager told investigators he believed Ross held a valid prescription for the Adderall, which was the presumed origin of the capsule.
Prosecutors state that text messages obtained by police revealed discussions between Ross and the campaign manager dating back to May regarding the plan. One alleged message from Ross sent on May 31 read, “I was hoping we could make it happen before THIS Thursday…which would be extreme egg on the face given Thursdays nights event [sic].”
After local police involved the FBI, agents provided the campaign manager with a covert recording device. On July 31, the manager recorded a meeting with Ross during which he informed the candidate he still possessed the drugs and asked if Ross still wanted him to attempt planting them on Secker. The complaint alleges Ross agreed and suggested the manager could instead call in an anonymous tip claiming Secker had drugs in her car.
“[I]f you can pull it off…pull it off,” Ross is alleged to have told the campaign manager.
Ross, 37, was taken into custody and held at the Joplin Municipal Jail. He has not yet entered a plea, and a preliminary detention hearing is scheduled for Sept. 9. His public defender did not immediately return requests for comment, nor did Ross’s campaign team.
Following his primary victory four days after the alleged incident, Ross posted on social media thanking voters for their support and promising to work diligently as a representative. He is now set to face Democratic candidate Aaron Metzger in the general election.
Missouri Republican Party Chairman Peter Kinder issued a statement Wednesday calling on Ross to withdraw from the race. “The people of Southwest Missouri deserve nothing less than leadership they can trust,” Kinder said.
Secker and Metzger did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
This is absolutely wild. Planting drugs on a rival? I’ve never seen anything this petty in politics before.
Peter Kinder asking him to drop out is the right move. You can’t trust someone who tries to smuggle cocaine.
How does he even run in the general election from jail? The prosecution here seems pretty ironclad with those texts.
I voted for him in the primary because I didn’t know any of this. What a shocker to hear about the three-vote margin loss.