A Union man is accused of holding his former girlfriend against her will while threatening her with a pair of scissors.

Ronald Carter, 39, of 300 Wallace St., was charged Wednesday by the Union Public Safety Department with assault and battery, kidnapping and armed robbery.

The 39-year-old victim told Officer Angela Cogdill that Carter approached her outside her home Tuesday as she finished hanging clothes on a clothesline. They went inside and he asked to hold her cell phone. He began going through her phone and noticed the number of a man that she formerly dated. She said Carter got upset and said, “I knew you were talking to him.” She said she told Carter that she had only spoken to the man once.

Carter slapped her on the left side of her face, causing redness and scratch marks, she said. He accused her of lying to him, grabbed the cord of an iron that was in her bedroom, said he was going to tie her up and ordered her to get on the bed.

The victim said she told Carter if he would let her go she wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened. She said he then began demanding money that she owed him. She said she told Carter her mother had the money. He continued his demands and she got six $100 bills and gave them to him. She said Carter demanded more. She told him she had no more money and for him to call her sister.

Carter told her she was going to “die tonight” and grabbed a pair of scissors, the victim said. He kept looking toward the door to see if anyone was coming in and hit her again in the face. The victim said she continued to beg for Carter to let her go.

She broke free and ran out the front door to her sister’s residence.

The victim later told officers her cell phone was missing and when she tried to use her house phone it would not work. Officers checked the phone and found the batteries were missing.

Scissors found at the home were taken as evidence.

Carter was taken into custody at his home Wednesday morning. He is being held in the Union County Jail.

Financial identity fraud

Jennifer Prince Howell, 34, of 1437 Peach Orchard Road, Union, was charged Wednesday by the Union County Sheriff’s Office with financial identity fraud.

The victim, a 60-year-old woman, told Deputy Scott Coffer that Ms. Howell took her Social Security number, date of birth and name and opened credit card accounts at Wal-Mart, Premier Bank and Finger Hut.