DEER ISLE, Maine — A local school bus driver is behind bars after being arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a girl over a four-year period.
Larry Bunt, 52, of Deer Isle was arrested Dec. 5 on two charges of gross sexual assault, a Class A crime punishable by up to 30 years imprisonment and a $50,000 fine. Superior Court Justice Anne Murray set Bunt’s bail at $25,000 cash or $50,000 surety. Bunt has not posted bail and remains in jail.
Bunt did not meet his victim through his job as a school bus driver. The Bangor Daily News does not identify child victims of sexual crimes.
According to a Maine State Police affidavit filed in Superior Court, the victim, now a teenager, told a detective on Dec. 4 that Bunt had sexually assaulted her “about every other week” while she was between 4 and 8 years old. The alleged assaults took place between 2000 and 2004.
The victim said Bunt touched her privates and had her touch his privates with her hands, according to the affidavit.
After speaking with police, the victim called Bunt “to tell him that she was having problems dealing with what he did to her,” the affidavit states.
According to police, Bunt acknowledged the assault to the victim and said he didn’t know why he did it.
“When [the victim] asked if she should seek counseling, [Bunt] told her that if she did so, he would end up in jail. He then told her to do what she needed to do,” the affidavit states.
After his arrest, Bunt was interviewed by state police Detective Jay Pelletier. The affidavit states that Bunt confessed to touching the girl on at least three occasions, but said he did not recall the details of the incidents. He also told Pelletier that if the assault occurred more than three times, he did not recall it.
Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland said Bunt was employed as a school bus driver in the Deer Isle-Stonington area at the time of his arrest. The school district contracts transportation services to First Student Inc. of Orland.
First Student declined to comment on Bunt’s employment, or to say how long Bunt had been working for the company. Bunt’s next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 21.
To report a sexual assault, call the Statewide Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Line at 1-800-871-7741 TTY 1-888-458-5599. This is a confidential 24-hour toll-free line accessible from anywhere in Maine. Calls are automatically routed to the closest sexual assault support center.
Follow Mario Carmine Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
hope if he is guilty someone wipes that smirk off his face!
I’m going to bet there would be a long line. I would love to be at the front of it!
Nothing like a smiling child molester to motivate that sort of thing. I hope the prisons get the BDN.
If he is guilty ? He admitted it. But yes, someone should wipe that smirk right off his disgusting face.
It may happen, if he gets to go behind bars…
(s)mug shot.
I’m willing to bet that if found quilty his face will be safe. Other parts of his body, however will not
He doesn’t remember???????? Lieing scumbag loser!
I hope he gets out on bail and returns to the island so he gets some REAL justice, Deer Isle Style.
Lobstah bait?
Deer Isle Smile.
this is a good reason for state funded sex change.preferably with a used dull scalpel
I find his smile so very odd.
that isolated island should be utilized for these pedophiles!!
Isolated? Try getting around this island from April to October.
Yes, he was from that island… but he was a bus driver off the island, in Brooklin. And no, JAIL should be utilized for those pedophiles.
the island I mean is like ……..Alcatraz…let them grow their own food, make their own clothes, cut wood for heat source, build their own living quarters, do their own cooking, Ect. NO meals handed to them like in jail, NO amenities like in jail…you get my drift, now?
I see your point. It sounded like you were saying to stick them on Deer Isle. Seeing as how this guy was my bus driver for 6 years… I just want him to be locked up in a dark cell in prison. But if it was an island like Alcatraz, that would be fine with me!
and NO security guards on that island with them to protect them from one another. They just might kill each other off. What will the state have to lose on this idea? less $ for the tax payers in the long run right? They want to molest people, let them have at it..
.
Nah, it’s too close to the mainland, they’d just swim across. But I like your thinking!!
ISOLATED!! What are you talking about and how dare you make that comment about our island. Sick and deranged comment to make. Get a clue, buddy! And yes, you just made my blood boil because I am an islander and we are a close community and we don’t want him or any other pedophile shipped here.
Do these people honestly think they children they harm will just simply forget what happened to them? Yes, I know some people can and do suppress their memories but at some point in their life they will return.
There are some that probably do believe the victim will forget because of their age. I didn’t.
Got arrested for child molestation and that is the face he put on for his mug shot? Dude ain’t firin’ on all eight.
no he’s not. I know this for a fact. I also know he has children, so remember your comments can hurt them.
You have a very valid point and one I hope people will heed. Thank you
Thank- you, his children are part of my family.
I am pretty sure my comment is benign compared to what most people are thinking. I am also pretty sure that his children will find much more hurt in the alleged actions of their father and the taunting of those whom who they actually come in contact with than what is written in an online forum.
I picked your comment to post on because, at the time it was the last one on the page. You’re right they will get hurt because of this any ways. I can do something about the comment on this page, I can’t protect them from the public in general. he has hurt them for many years, I just wanted people to know your words hurt others much more then they will Larry.
This guy subjected himself to public criticism the day he decided to cross the line and abuse someone else’s child. And he also condemned his own family to a lifetime of shame as well. So don’t blame others for what he brought upon himself and his family.
You are the only person that can control your words. Your right he did this to his family, I am in NO way trying to protect HIM. he deserves what he’ll get.
Mr. Bunt seems to have a memory problem….please see to it that he receives the maximum punishment allowed…..thank-you…..
i hope someone knocks that smug smile off his face in prison.
I was thinking they shouldn’t be allowed to smile for mug shots.
The police photographer tells the subjects to smile before snapping the picture.
He was the bus driver for the Brooklin School. He had been my bus driver for a long time (Up until the day he was arrested). I always thought it was very strange how he talked to the kids on the bus like they were his ‘buddies’. He tried to take pictures of two high school girls, a couple years back… It was clear to me (even if his victim was not someone who rode on his bus), he should not be around kids. It’s really too bad that some grownups don’t listen to children. I had told teachers and parents about his strange behavior. If a child does not feel safe around a bus driver, or any grownup, they should not have to be around them. I am truly sorry to the victim of such a horrible thing, and may he get what he deserves.
I’m sorry no one listened, that is not okay. Please don’t ever let it get you discouraged. Report something again if you feel it is wrong and keep doing it, someone will listen.
Thank you.
My kids never rode on his bus, but I have been told similar stories by other parents, especially about him taking pictures of little girls and trying to be their friends. Very sick and I hope that if he did this, he pays for it by becoming a victim of the same type of crime he committed…don’t drop the soap!
He also found me on facebook and tried to add me as a friend…
He has filled in for my kids’ bus driver on occasion here on the island. I am now hearing things about inappropriate things he has done and said. It also doesn’t help that his girlfriend/wife is the head of the bus department on the island. That is probably why parents complaints weren’t looked into. Conflict of interest if you ask me.
u ppl have lots of boats and ocean down there I here…
We certainly do! But, we use the suspension bridge to get to the main land. Very beautiful here!
Hope you like prison. Try smiling in there.
I know a local Bangor area girl that had been assaulted sexually multiple times over the years by a bus driver and the parents learned about it reecently and this happened about 14 years ago…and they and the daughter choose to ignore it!!! the daughter is now an adult but this started when she was 11 or 12..I wish I could bring charges for just hearing about it.
you should let the police know who that is because there probally is other victims,they can at least check into him.
agreed.
Throw him under the bus, With it moving of course!
hope he dont get out he is my 1/2 brother no pc out here
cat, is larry left handed or right handed? pedophiles are 3 times more likely to be left handed than non pedophiles.
Very brave young lady to speak up about this….hope she knows she did the right thing…….and in no way is she at fault in this……..wishing her all good things from here on out!
Wow, he is a happy guy, just look at that smile, you can tell he is so very very sorry for what he had done! Hope he keeps that smile when he gets to The prison in Warren!