Shelley Fillipoff, mother of missing woman, faces drug, weapons charges

An Ottawa-area woman who has been searching for her missing daughter for three years has been charged with money laundering, as well as drug and weapons offences, after an OPP investigation into her son.

Shelley Fillipoff, 58, has been the public face of her family's search for Emma Fillipoff, who was 26 years old when she disappeared in Victoria in November 2012. The CBC's fifth estate covered the case in 2014.

• Finding Emma: Mom searches for answers in daughter's disappearance
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• WATCH: Finding Emma, fifth estate

Speaking by phone Wednesday morning after being released from custody, Shelley Fillipoff declined to discuss the criminal allegations against her and deferred questions to her Ottawa-based lawyer. She said only that the charges are unrelated to the ongoing search for her daughter.

"The one has absolutely no connection to the other, and my search for Emma will never stop. I don't feel that they're connected in any way," Shelley Fillipoff said.

"My daughter is still missing. She's a person, she's a Canadian, she's a woman, she's a woman probably in jeopardy, so my focus will always be Emma, until I find her or she finds us. That's the only comment I can make."

Her lawyer Trevor Brown would not comment on the charges against his client, as the matter is before the courts.

OPP investigated son

The charges against Shelley Fillipoff were laid after a months-long police investigation into her son, real-estate agent Matthew Fillipoff, whom OPP allege was supplying cocaine to street-level cocaine traffickers in Lanark County, southwest of Ottawa.

That investigation culminated in multiple raids on Thursday last week, according to a media release. OPP pulled over a 2009 Mercedes Matthew Fillipoff was driving and said they found cocaine and $3,900 in cash.

Police conducted targeted raids the same day at Matthew Fillipoff's home on Agincourt Road in Ottawa, as well as his mother's house on Rosetta Road in Lanark, Ont. Two other homes in Perth, Ont., were also raided.

At Matthew Fillipoff's home, OPP found and seized 519 grams of cocaine, 518 grams of MDMA powder, 14 Fentanyl patches, 325 grams of hashish and 12 grams of marijuana, as well as a switch blade and bear spray.

At Shelley Fillipoff's home, OPP found and seized 356 grams of cocaine, about 1,100 grams of marijuana, seven bundles of cash, a sawed-off shotgun, a double-barrel shotgun, ammunition and a switch blade.

She is charged with:

• Laundering the proceeds of crime.
• Possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
• Possession of more than 30 grams of marijuana.
• Unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm.
• Unauthorized possession of a firearm.

 Her son is charged with:

• Possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
• Fleeing a peace officer.
• Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
• Possession of MDMA for the purpose of trafficking.
• Possession of Fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.
• Possession of property over $5,000 obtained by crime.
• Unauthorized possession of a firearm.
• Unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm.

Three other men and three other women are also facing charges, including drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.