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NAPLES — Two Golden Gate men who staged a drug deal to commit a home invasion robbery last summer have been sent to state prison after accepting plea deals the day of their trials.

Collier Circuit Judge Frank Baker sentenced Christopher Charles Seitz, 28, of 2310 Eighth St. N.E., to five years in a state prison Monday after adjudicating him guilty of home invasion robbery. He’d pleaded no contest to that amended charge, which reduced the offense from home invasion robbery with a firearm — a crime that carries a penalty of life in prison.

The amended charge is punishable by a maximum of 30 years in a state prison, but Seitz was sentenced as part of a plea agreement negotiated by Assistant State Attorney Dave Scuderi and defense attorney Michael Schneider.

Seitz, who was given credit for time served in jail since his arrest on July 5, 2007, also pleaded to grand theft, a third-degree felony, and misdemeanor battery.

Seitz’s lengthy criminal record dates back to 1993. He was released from state prison in December 2006. His body is covered with tattoos, including one on his arm that says, “Krazy Kracker.”

After sentencing, Schneider said Seitz maintained his innocence.

“He said he wasn’t there, but he didn’t want to take a chance with life in prison with no parole,” Schneider said, adding that he also denied pistol-whipping the victims. “The woman who answered the door said he pistol-whipped her, but there were no injuries.”

Minutes later, Seitz’s accomplice, Matthew Ernest Joslin, 33, pleaded to the same reduced home invasion charge as part of a plea bargain.

When Baker questioned the difference in proposed sentences, Scuderi said Seitz was the most culpable, while defense attorney John McGowan added, “All Mr. Joslin did was drive there and drive away.”

Baker adjudicated him guilty, sentenced him to three years in a state prison and gave him credit for time served in the jail since his arrest on June 12, 2007.

Neither victim spoke at sentencing.

Joslin’s lengthy record dates back to when he was a teenager in 1993 and includes two state prison terms. Joslin, whose body also is covered in tattoos, including three gargoyles, was released from prison in November 2006.

Collier County sheriff’s arrest reports and affidavits provide this account of the home invasion:

Abram Arnold let his friend, Joslin, into his home at Poinciana Village shortly after 11 p.m. on May 31, 2007, and was sitting on the couch with him when a man burst in with a semi-automatic pistol. That man, Seitz, held 31-year-old Arnold and Joslin at gunpoint while yelling at Arnold, “Give me your wallet, give me your money.”

Arnold handed over his wallet, just as a woman who leased a room in his rental home, Joanna Gullo, 25, walked in from the laundry room. She thought it was one of her landlord's friends playing a practical joke on him, so she went to close the door. Seitz then struck her head with the gun, pushed her onto a couch, pistol-whipped her again and then hit Arnold.

When Gullo stood up to get her dog, he warned, “I’m gonna shoot your brains out.”

He fled with $400 from Arnold and warned them not to “call the cops or I’ll shoot you.” He ran down the street and Joslin then left.

Gullo told deputies she thought it was suspicious that Seitz burst in just seconds after her landlord's friend, Joslin, arrived. She was seriously injured and couldn't open her mouth for two weeks.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Gus Santos located Joslin that night and he claimed he went to Arnold’s home to buy oxycontin from Arnold for a friend. But while inside, an unidentified man burst in and robbed Arnold. Joslin said the man also hit him on the head with the gun.

Macera interviewed Jamie Fasiska, 23, who said she was with Joslin when they picked up a man and drove to Poinciana Village, where Joslin said he was going inside a home to get some money. About a minute later, she said the other man left the vehicle.

Fasiska, who was tired, said she was sleeping inside the car and the next thing she remembered was yelling from a house. She looked out and saw Seitz run out of the driveway of a home. Then Joslin returned and told her they were leaving. He drove down the street and picked up the man.

Fasiska said the two were “all hyped up about what happened” and exchanged money. She said the man then pulled out a gun and she went into hysterics because she’d never seen a gun before. She said she then figured out what happened. She said Joslin dropped the man off on Golden Gate Boulevard.

Santos met with Joslin again, who confessed the man was Seitz and they’d planned the home-invasion robbery, using a drug transaction to set up Arnold.

Joslin was arrested and Gullo immediately identified Seitz from a photo lineup and a warrant was issued for his arrest.