- - The little boy wandered alone in the mall food court, offering to sell shoppers candy to support his church.
He looked to be about 7, Doris Currier thought.

Asked where his parents were, the boy pointed across the food court to a couple eating at a table. They didn't seem to be paying much attention to him.

All this troubled Currier. But the boy's appeal was so wholesome, his face so innocent, she couldn't resist.

She handed him $2 for a 50-cent bag of m&m's. The money goes to Deeper Life Christian Church, the boy told her.

``I'm a sucker,'' the Riverview resident said later of her experience, which occurred last month at Westfield Shoppingtown Brandon. ``It's hard to say no to a cute little kid who comes up to you.''

A three-month investigation by The Tampa Tribune, in a partnership with WFLA, News Channel 8, has found that Currier's encounter is a miniature of how Deeper Life operates. Teams of people from the church, based just north of downtown Tampa on Nebraska Avenue, fan out across the country seeking donations from strangers.

They carry white buckets with placards reading, ``Help feed needy women and children.'' Or, they sell candy at a tidy profit.

Children join the fundraising frequently, even when it involves standing at busy intersections. They sometimes solicit in the hot sun for 10 to 12 hours, say former church members.

The money comes to millions of dollars, former pastors say, and almost all of it is funneled to the Tampa headquarters of Deeper Life, which has the unusual distinction among churches of having a felony record. The church and five of its members each pleaded guilty to one count of food stamp fraud or dealing in stolen property in 1999.

Church leaders won't say exactly how much the sales and solicitations generate. The church's books are a closely guarded secret. Deeper Life has no outside directors, answers to no national denomination, has few written policies and no independent audits. And, as a church, it is not required to make financial disclosures and is not subject to regulatory oversight.

Even its founder, Bishop Melvin B. Jefferson, says he has no idea how much money comes in or how it is spent, although records suggest most or all of it is handled by members of his family.

But the church's size and wealth - land and other property holdings - indicate the amount is substantial. By Jefferson's account, Deeper Life has grown from a storefront Tampa ministry more than 20 years ago into a conglomerate of more than three dozen churches nationwide.

And public records suggest that Jefferson and his family live well, in sharp contrast to many of the people Deeper Life takes in.

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