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.

ShelleyFillipoff, 58,has been the public face of her family's search for EmmaFillipoff, who was 26 years oldwhen she disappeared in Victoria in November 2012. TheCBC'sfifth estate covered the casein 2014.

• Finding Emma:Mom searches for answers in daughter's disappearance
• Disappearance of EmmaFillipofffrom Victoria still a mystery 3 years later
• WATCH: Finding Emma,fifth estate

Speaking by phone Wednesday morning after being released from custody, ShelleyFillipoffdeclined to discuss the criminal allegations against her and deferred questions to her Ottawa-based lawyer.She said onlythat the charges areunrelated 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," ShelleyFillipoffsaid.

"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 ShelleyFillipoffwere laid after a months-long policeinvestigation into her son, real-estate agent MatthewFillipoff, whom OPP allege was supplying cocaine to street-level cocaine traffickers inLanark 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 MatthewFillipoffwas driving andsaid 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 MatthewFillipoff'shome, OPP found and seized 519 grams ofcocaine, 518 grams of MDMA powder, 14Fentanyl 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-barrelshotgun, 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 MDMAfor the purpose of trafficking.
• Possession of Fentanylfor 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.