diff --git a/lib/remote_helper.py b/lib/remote_helper.py
index cf4b7d86..d81acaff 100644
--- a/lib/remote_helper.py
+++ b/lib/remote_helper.py
@@ -959,11 +959,8 @@ def stop_remote_appcontroller(cls, host, keyname, is_verbose):
       is_verbose: A bool that indicates if we should print the stop commands we
         exec to stdout.
     """
-    stop_command = 'service appscale-controller stop ; '\
-      'ruby /root/appscale/AppController/terminate.rb'
-    cls.ssh(host, keyname, stop_command, is_verbose)
-    time.sleep(5)
-    cls.ssh(host, keyname, stop_command, is_verbose)
+    cls.ssh(host, keyname, 'ruby /root/appscale/AppController/terminate.rb',
+      is_verbose)
 
 
   @classmethod