A person running for the Missouri state House is accused of trying to plant drugs in the car of his opponent.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Missouri’s Western District alleged that Thomas Ross asked his former campaign manager to plant drugs on his opponent, providing the manager with a black nylon glove with a small plastic bag inside, containing white powder.
CBS News said the campaign manager was not named.
The powder, according to the Department of Justice news release, tested positive for cocaine. The glove also contained a white and pink capsule, identified as Adderall.
Ross is accused of telling the man to place the bag of drugs inside his opponent’s purse or vehicle while Ross was out of state on vacation, the DOJ claims. NBC News reported that the opponent was Louise Secker, whom Ross ran against in the primary.
He is currently running on the Republican ticket for Missouri House District 161 and won the primary in August, beating Secker by just over 30 votes, CBS News reported.
Ross is charged with a single count of conspiring to distribute a controlled substance.
Missouri GOP chairman Peter Kinder called the allegations “serious and deeply troubling, saying that Ross should drop out of the race, CBS News reported.
Requests for comment sent by The Associated Press to Ross and the federal pubic defender’s office were not immediately returned.
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