They showed up to buy a laptop. Instead, they were kidnapped and robbed.

Two brothers who advertised a laptop for sale online as a ruse to kidnap and rob would-be buyers in Tacoma have been sentenced.

Charles Christian Cabrera, 28, and Craig Michael Leon Guerrer Cabrera, 27, robbed prospective buyers five times in late December and early January.

Each pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree robbery and second-degree kidnapping. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Martin gave each brother a mid-range sentence of 15 years on July 11.

According to charging papers:

The brothers asked buyers to meet them and, when they arrived, pulled a gun and demanded money and the person’s cellphone. In some cases, they drove the victims to an ATM to get cash or stole their vehicles.

One of Charles’ Cabrera’s coworkers wrote the court that the elder brother’s performance at the warehouse where they worked suffered at the end of last year when he had marital trouble.

But his arrest came as a surprise.

“The Monday we heard, we were all in shock at work, no way could this be the person carrying out these crazy events that we heard about,” Thomas Martian wrote the court.

He said Cabrera could be stubborn, but “he is also a really caring, funny, loving person that let his situation get the best of him.”

Of one of the robbery victims wrote the court, to explain how the crime affected his family.

“I didn’t feel safe going home that night,” he wrote about the brothers taking his keys and ID. “... For the next week, we were afraid they might come back to the apartment.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "They showed up to buy a laptop. Instead, they were kidnapped and robbed.."