From Staff Reports 

A man who Biltmore Company police say brought a stolen AK-47 rifle and more than two and a half pounds of marijuana onto Asheville’s Biltmore Estate entrance was arrested April 11 by the BC police unit.

Torrey Lane Hodsden, 21, was arrested on two counts of assault of company police officers with a deadly weapon; possession with intent to sell, manufacture, or distribute marijuana; possession of marijuana; maintaining a vehicle for use, storage, or sale of a controlled substance; fleeing and eluding arrest; possession of a stolen firearm, and injury to personal property.

 Hodsden had tried to access the Biltmore Estate without a ticket, telling the guard at the gate he wanted to visit an employee. He was directed to turn his car around, which he did, but then parked his vehicle by the Gate House Gift Shop.

At that point, BC police were called to the scene, when he did not leave the premises.

 Officers then approached his car and asked him to roll down his window. When he complied, they reported detecting a strong odor of marijuana and asked him to get out of the car.

Hodsden opened the car door as if cooperating, but then threw the car in reverse, backing into the police vehicle behind him — and striking both officers with the car door. Neither officer required medical attention.

 Hodsden was arrested, and then the officers searched his car, finding a stolen AK-47-style rifle and 2.64 pounds of marijuana, divided and stashed in various parts the vehicle. As of the Daily Planet’s presstime, the incident was still under investigation, and Hodsden was being held in the Buncombe County Detention Center on a $725,000 secured bond.

 Representatives of the Biltmore Company stressed that incidents like this are extremely rare on the estate.