Robbery suspect is in custody

A Triangle man faces armed robbery, assault and kidnapping charges after his arrest Sunday in the late-night holdup of a Cary restaurant.

Ronald Elbert Perry, 38, was being held in Wake County jail after his arrest in the Saturday night robbery of the Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill, 1270 Buck Jones Road, Cary police said.

According to arrest warrants, Perry held a gun to the head of a restaurant employee in the process of taking $1,200 in personal property, cash, business receipts and bank bags.

"Generally speaking, if a suspect makes an employee move around in a store during an armed robbery, that constitutes the elements of second-degree kidnapping," Cary Police Sgt. John Szymeczek said.

Perry is set to appear in Wake County court at 9 a.m. today in lieu of posting bail, which was set at $2 million.

Perry was arrested on Interstate 40 after a police chase that briefly shut down the highway.

The suspect gave his address as "anywhere, NC," but state records show addresses for him in Raleigh and Durham.

According to state corrections records, Perry served time in 1993 for a second-degree rape conviction in Franklin County. He has amassed at least a dozen misdemeanor convictions, starting in 1989, on counts including trespass, providing malt liquor to a minor and assault of a government official.

In addition to the felony counts, Perry was charged with failure to appear last year to answer misdemeanor charges in Chatham and Durham counties.