photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Mark Gridley appears at his competency hearing Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A bond-modification hearing for a speech pathologist accused of molesting seven children at Prairie Park Elementary School has been continued another week.

A hearing is now set for Aug. 11, when Judge Amy Hanley is expected to decide whether the bond for Mark Gridley, 61, will be lowered from the current amount of $1.5 million cash or surety.

Hanley held a hearing on the bond request on July 28, but continued the matter until Aug. 4 — and then again until Aug. 11.

Gridley’s attorney, Vanessa Riebli, is requesting that the bond amount be lowered to $100,000. She said that electronic monitoring with home confinement would assure public safety and that “his whereabouts will be known at all times.” The state, as the Journal-World has reported, has objected to a bond modification, arguing, among other things, that given the seriousness of the charges a higher flight risk exists.

Gridley has been in custody since Feb. 8, when he was accused of a sex crime against a Prairie Park Elementary student. Last month, as expected, those charges were upgraded to include six more children, for a total of 14 charges: seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and seven counts of kidnapping.

Gridley’s preliminary hearing, at which the court will decide whether probable exists to order him to stand trial, is set for the first week in October.