Sweet Charity Turns Sour

Read this story by Andrew Meacham and S.I. Rosenbaum: You'll get no more surprise parties, John Smith wrote.

No more Disney World trips. No more Daytona 500 tickets or television interviews.

He was through.

"You & Tippie let me down, broke my heart and shattered my trust, " he wrote in a March e-mail to Tania and Edward Tippie. "This was a one-time shot, and you both blew it."

When Smith met the Tippies in October 2006, they were at rock bottom.

Edward Tippie, a truck driver from Hillsborough County, had lost his job after a traumatic crash. Tania Tippie had been convicted of welfare fraud. Struggling with debt and medical bills, the family split up to save money.

Smith appeared to the Tippies -- and to the media he courted -- as an "angel." The Orlando entrepreneur reunited the family and raised nearly $20, 000 to pay their rent and power bill for a year. He lavished gifts on the family's five children.

"I was their big friend, their big champion, " he said.

Now, Smith and the Tippies don't speak.

He says they abused his generosity and broke his trust.

They say his charity came with a price too steep to pay.