2 Durham Men Charged With Armed Robbery

Jerry Kareem Tatum, 32, of 4001 Meriwether Drive in Durham and Ronnie Lee Jones, 30, of 718 Felicia St. in Durham were served warrants while being held in the Alamance County Jail, according to a Chapel Hill Police Department press release.

Chapel Hill police charged each man with eight felony counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, six felony counts of second-degree kidnapping, three felony counts of first-degree kidnapping and one felony count of assault with a dangerous weapon inflicting serious injury, reports state.

Tatum and Ronnie Lee Jones allegedly robbed the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, located at 1508 E. Franklin St., at 11:32 p.m. Jan. 14. They also allegedly robbed the McDonald's, located at 1748 Fordham Blvd., at 10:19 p.m Dec. 16, the press release states.

An Applebee's employee was seriously injured during the armed robbery after a suspect struck him in the head with the butt of a pistol, the press release states. Two McDonald's employees were forced into a freezer during the armed robbery, reports state. The total value of the stolen goods from the Applebee's robbery was $4,107, reports state. An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen from the McDonald's.

Burlington Police Maj. Randy Jones said Tatum and Ronnie Lee Jones already were being held in the Alamance County Jail for armed robbery of a McDonald's on Huffman Mill Road in Burlington on Feb. 5.

Maj. Jones said Graham police arrested Tatum, Ronnie Lee Jones and a third man, Cyril Sililo Scanlan, 23, of Durham, on Interstate-40/85, between three and five minutes after the Feb. 5 armed robbery.

Maj. Jones said Tatum and Ronnie Lee Jones were charged with felony counts of armed robbery and kidnapping. Tatum also was charged with a felony count of possession of a concealed weapon, and Ronnie Lee Jones was charged with a felony count of possession of stolen property, Maj. Jones said.

Scanlan was arrested and charged with felony counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, possession of stolen property, possession of a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, Maj. Jones said.

Chapel Hill and Burlington police departments collaborated to connect Ronnie Lee Jones and Tatum to the armed robberies in Chapel Hill.

Maj. Jones said he heard of the robberies of the Applebee's and McDonald's in Chapel Hill from his son, who is a police officer in Chapel Hill. "The men fit the general descriptions, targeted the same businesses and used walkie-talkies to communicate in the robberies here and in Chapel Hill," Jones said.

Those warrants were sent sometime in the middle of last week, said Chapel Hill Police spokeswoman Jane Cousins.

The warrants were served late last week, and Tatum and Ronnie Lee Jones had the additional charges added to the ones that landed them in the Alamance County Jail, Maj. Jones said.

Cousins said even though arrests have been made, the case is still under further investigation. "We are still investigating a third suspect in the (Chapel Hill) crimes."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.