Staff report
A former Rowan County resident once given the key to the city by Salisbury City Council is jailed in Wake County on charges of sexually assaulting a child.
Gregory A. Perkins, 40, of 325 Bothwell St., Raleigh, faces seven felony charges including two counts of forcible sexual offense, two counts of statutory sex offense against a 13, 14 or 15 year old, first-degree statutory rape and statutory rape of a 13, 14 or 15 year old.
He was arrested by the Apex Police Department and remained in the Wake County Detention Center under $300,000 bond Monday.
Perkins graduated from West Rowan High School. According to Post files, he was a member of the National Honor Society and Student Government at West Rowan and earned a number of recognitions, including the United States National Mathematics Award and the National Service and Leadership Award.
A JROTC member, he joined the U.S. Army after graduating. As a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, he served in the first Gulf War and in 1991 wrote a letter to Salisbury City Council during his deployment asking that the city keep an American flag flying until all the nation’s soldiers returned home.
The city kept U.S. flags flying on The Square and when Perkins returned home, Mayor John Wear and the council presented him with the key to the city.
Perkins is also a former Durham police officer, said Detective Worth Brown of the Apex Police Department.