The despair and desperation that often accompanies a foreclosure seems to have gotten the best of one California couple – but it turned to outright violence when they kidnapped the loan modification consultants they’d hired to help them.

Daniel Weston and Mary Ann Parmelee, aided by three accomplices, are said to have lured loan agents Lamond Dean and Gustavo Canez to a home in Glendale, where they imprisoned the pair, robbed them, and beat them – an attack that the Los Angeles Times said involved wooden knuckles and a handgun.

Weston and Parmelee, both 52, live in a home in La Canada-Flintridge, a suburb outside of Los Angeles. When the home went into foreclosure, the couple “allegedly sought loan modification assistance from the victims but believed that nothing was being done and wanted their money back,” according to a statement from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Local police said the victims had worked with Parmalee, a real estate agent, on other foreclosure cases. Parmalee often sent loan modification referrals to the agents to help other troubled homeowners.

According to court documents, the five assailants, all of which have been arrested, set out to “cause cruel and extreme pain and suffering for the purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion and for a sadistic purpose, inflict great bodily injury.”

Both victims were treated at a local hospital and have now been released.

The case became public the same week Los Angeles officials and federal housing agencies kicked off a nationwide public-awareness campaign urging homeowners to be on alert for phony foreclosure rescue scams and to report suspicious activity to authorities. NeighborWorks America said it had selected Los Angeles for the program’s launch because it is consistently ranked among cities with the highest foreclosure rates.