Want further evidence of a downturn in the housing market? Sam Leccima of A&E's popular reality series "Flip This House" has been arrested for fraud. Lecimma is accused of faking the home renovations shown on the cable TV show and claiming to have sold houses he never owned.

"This is, indeed, a con artist," said Sonya McGee, an Atlanta pharmaceutical representative who says Leccima took $4,000 from her in an investment scheme.

McGee and others say Leccima's episodes of "Flip This House," A&E's most popular show, were elaborate hoaxes. His friends and family were presented as potential homebuyers and "sold" signs were slapped in front of unsold houses. They say the home repairs -- the lynchpin of the show -- were actually quick or temporary patch jobs designed to look good on camera.

Leccima says he never claimed to own the homes. While not acknowledging his televised renovations were staged, he didn't deny it and suggested that A&E and Departure Films, the production company that makes the show, knew exactly what he was doing.

"Ask anybody who works in television how a reality show is made and you'll find that ours was a very typical approach," Leccima said in a telephone interview.

When it recently learned of the claims against Leccima, the cable network pulled reruns of his episodes off the air and wiped his mentions from its Web site.

Bodog.com, an online gambling site, was preparing to offer betting odds on what will become of Leccima.

In season one, the series followed the activities surrounding the Charleston, South Carolina-based Trademark Properties, founded by Richard C. Davis. Each episode spotlights the purchase and renovation of a single unit. All episodes included listing the price of the purchase, the cost of renovation, and the market value (including potential profit) of the "flipped" property.

Due to a contractual disagreement A&E decided not to invite Trademark back for season two of the show. The show was recast with a team from San Antonio and another in Atlanta, and with season three introducing a team from New Haven.

In July 2006, Trademark Properties filed a lawsuit against A&E alleging breach of contract and fraud. Davis signed a series deal with TLC, and the new series, titled The Real Deal, will air April 21, 2007.

A&E has enjoyed solid ratings with reality-based programs like "Flip This House", "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and "Inked".