Canadian man who threatened to blow up bus in Houlton sentenced

HOULTON, Maine — A Canadian man who held police at bay for nine hours last March by threatening to blow up a Cyr Bus Line bus will serve more than a year in jail on terrorizing and assault charges related to the incident.

Aroostook County District Attorney Todd Collins said late this week that Daniel Thomas Maccabee, 51, of Madison, Wisc., was sentenced in Aroostook County Superior Court in December.

Maccabee was indicted on one count of terrorizing and three counts of assault by the Aroostook County grand jury last spring, but one count of assault was dropped before sentencing. He was ordered to serve 10 months in prison on the terrorizing charge, along with 60 days in jail on each assault count. He also was fined $300 on each assault count.

Maccabee has remained at the Aroostook County Jail in Houlton since the incident.

He was arrested at the end of the standoff in front of Irving Big Stop restaurant on March 30, 2011.

Maccabee, who is a Canadian citizen, was en route to Houlton from Bangor when he told the bus driver that he wanted to go to the Canadian border and ordered him not to stop in Houlton, according to police.

He told the driver, Archie Rivers of Old Town, that he had a bomb and showed him what appeared to be a detonator that had three wires connected to it.

The wires went from the device to a bulge under his jacket and shirt.

Rivers refused and pulled the bus into the Houlton restaurant, which is the bus line’s customary depot, at around 8:30 p.m. He said last year that he believed the bomb was fake. Passengers on the bus later praised Rivers for how he handled the situation and comforted them while they waited for the standoff to end.

Maccabee allowed the six passengers and the driver to leave the vehicle but assaulted three female victims before he let them go. He punched one woman, kicked another and grabbed the third by the hair before they were allowed off the bus.

One victim said she had almost gotten off the bus when Maccabee grabbed her by the hair and said, “Maybe I should keep you for safekeeping.” He then tossed her by the hair into the parking lot.

Members of the Houlton police and the Maine State Police tactical team negotiated with Maccabee. Just before police were preparing to force him off the bus with gas, he gave himself up. No explosive devices were found.
The device which Maccabee was holding that resembled a detonator turned out to be a Nintendo Wii game system controller that was connected with an intercom wire and duct tape to a spiral bound notebook.

Maccabee later told police that his original plan was to force the bus to the Houlton border port of entry, show the bomb to Canadian immigration authorities and demand asylum at the Israeli consulate in Ottawa.

Maccabee indicated that once he arrived there, he would give himself up.

Maccabee underwent a competency evaluation which detected no issues, according to the district attorney’s office.