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    "headline": "Missouri GOP House Candidate Charged in Cocaine-Planting Plot Against Primary Rival",
    "dek": "Missouri House candidate Thomas Ross charged in plot to plant cocaine on primary rival Louise Secker.",
    "prose": "Investigators accused Ross of directing his former campaign manager to put cocaine and a prescription amphetamine pill among Secker's belongings, according to a probable cause statement. [^1]\n\nThomas Ross, a 37-year-old Republican candidate for Missouri's House District 161, was charged with conspiring to distribute a controlled substance in connection with an alleged plot to plant drugs on primary rival Louise Secker on the Wednesday following the Aug. 4 primary. [^2]\n\nProsecutors accuse Ross of asking a campaign manager to plant a small amount of cocaine and a prescription amphetamine pill on his Republican primary opponent, Louise Secker, in the weeks leading up to the Aug. 4 primary. [^3]\n\nThomas Ross, a 37-year-old candidate for the Missouri House, appeared in court on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. [^4]\n\nMissouri Republican Party Chairman Peter Kinder called for Ross to step aside, describing the matter as 'serious and deeply troubling.' [^5]\n\nLaw enforcement tests confirmed the substances in the glove were cocaine and Adderall. [^6]\n\nRoss sent text messages to his campaign staffer regarding the substance, stating he hoped to make it happen before Secker attended a Republican women's meeting to give her 'extreme egg on the face.' [^7]",
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      "statement": "Investigators accused Ross of directing his former campaign manager to put cocaine and a prescription amphetamine pill among Secker's belongings, according to a probable cause statement.",
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      "statement": "Thomas Ross, a 37-year-old Republican candidate for Missouri's House District 161, was charged with conspiring to distribute a controlled substance in connection with an alleged plot to plant drugs on primary rival Louise Secker on the Wednesday following the Aug. 4 primary.",
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      "statement": "Prosecutors accuse Ross of asking a campaign manager to plant a small amount of cocaine and a prescription amphetamine pill on his Republican primary opponent, Louise Secker, in the weeks leading up to the Aug. 4 primary.",
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      "statement": "Thomas Ross, a 37-year-old candidate for the Missouri House, appeared in court on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.",
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      "statement": "Missouri Republican Party Chairman Peter Kinder called for Ross to step aside, describing the matter as 'serious and deeply troubling.'",
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      "statement": "Ross sent text messages to his campaign staffer regarding the substance, stating he hoped to make it happen before Secker attended a Republican women's meeting to give her 'extreme egg on the face.'",
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