A Union man is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl whom he had given a ride in his truck.

Samuel Earl Jeter, 59, of 105 Pine Tree Lane, was charged Wednesday by the Union County Sheriff’s Office with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

According to a report, the sheriff’s office was brought into the case on Dec. 18 after the teen-ager went to the emergency room at Wallace Thomson Hospital and said she had been sexually assaulted.

The girl told Lt. Robbie Hines she had been with Jeter, a family friend, and they were on the way to the store on Dec. 17. She said en route, he told her he was not going to the store, he was going to take her somewhere else. She became frightened and told Jeter she would hit him.

The victim described riding with Jeter on a long road and passing a church and a cemetery. She said they eventually stopped on the Davis Jeter Road where he pulled her clothes off her sexually assaulted her. She said he then took her home. She said she was scared at first to tell her family but told her grandmother the next day.

On Dec. 19, the girl came to the sheriff’s office and provided a written statement about the assault. She then rode with Hines and showed him where she said the assault occurred.