A Vinton man has been charged with abducting and sexually assaulting a young woman who was passing through Botetourt County while through-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Authorities said the woman, who was hiking alone on the 2,175-mile trek from Georgia to Maine, had gotten off the trail Sunday near Troutville with plans to go to a post office and pick up a package of supplies that was waiting for her.

The woman didn't realize it was a Sunday and the post office would be closed, Botetourt County Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said.

As the woman walked along U.S. 11 near the Exit 150 interchange with Interstate 81, a man offered her a ride, she told police. The man then drove her to an industrial plant, where he reportedly worked, and took her into an office building.

The woman said the man sexually assaulted her and then told her it was to teach her a lesson not to accept rides from strangers, a sheriff's office investigator testified Thursday during a bond hearing in Botetourt County General District Court, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom.

Police have charged Joel Fulton Carter III, 38, with abduction and object sexual penetration.

Carter was being held Friday in the Botetourt County Jail after Judge Louis Campbell revoked his bond following testimony at the hearing on Thursday, Branscom said.

The Appalachian Trail crosses U.S. 220 just north of the Exit 150 interchange, and it's common for through-hikers to stop long enough to take advantage of a cluster of restaurants and motels. The nearby Troutville post office is frequently used by hikers as a mail drop.

Sprinkle said he could not recall another case in Botetourt County in which a hiker was the victim of a violent crime, either on or off the trail.

"We don't see this kind of thing often at all," he said.

Authorities declined to give the woman's exact age or say where she is from. There is no indication that she knew Carter previously, Sprinkle said.

Two years ago, Carter was acquitted of abduction, rape and two counts of sodomy in a case that is a little similar to what allegedly happened last weekend in Botetourt County.

A 21-year-old woman testified that Carter picked her up the night of Nov. 9, 2005, as she was walking home from Vinton to the Mount Pleasant area of Roanoke County following an argument with her boyfriend.

The woman said she was reluctant at first to accept a ride from a stranger who told her she looked too young to be walking alone at night. But after Carter said he was married with children her age, the woman got into his minivan.

According to the woman, Carter drove her almost to her home before grabbing her by the hair and forcing her into the back of the van, where he raped and sexually abused her.

Carter, however, told the jury that the woman came on to him after accepting a ride that night. He admitted having sex with her but said it was consensual.

Following a two-day trial in Roanoke County Circuit Court in June 2006, a jury acquitted Carter of all four charges.

Carter has also faced abduction charges in Roanoke.

In 1987, Carter's ex-girlfriend told police that he forced her into his car, which he crashed in the back yard of a Southeast Roanoke home while trying to outrun a police officer.

Carter, who was 18 at the time, was convicted of a lesser charge of assault and was sentenced to three months in jail, according to online court records.