Sex offender arrested in Chapel Hill robbery

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Police arrested a registered sex offender Friday in connection with an armed robbery and an attempted armed robbery that happened last weekend in Chapel Hill.

Michael Damien Cartwright-Sykes, 22, of 127 Scott Lane, faces two counts each of armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon and one count each of kidnapping, breaking-and-entering, larceny and possession of stolen property.

Police said a man knocked on the door of a Sunstone Apartments resident last Saturday morning, displayed a handgun and stole cash and a ring. Around 3:45 a.m. the next day, a man attempted to rob the occupants of an SUV in a parking lot of Granville Towers, off West Franklin Street. When the man knocked on the windows, the SUV occupants drove off, police said.

Cartwright-Sykes was in the Orange County Jail Friday morning under a $250,000 bond.

According to the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, he was released from prison Dec. 31, 2008, after serving nearly five years in prison for a second-degree sex offense conviction.