photo by: Bremen Keasey

Mark Gridley seen with his attorney, Vanessa Riebli, during a pre-trial hearing about a motion to reduce his bond from $1.5 million on Monday July 28, 2025.

A Douglas County judge on Monday cut in half the $1.5 million bond of a speech pathologist accused of molesting multiple children last winter at a Lawrence Elementary School.

The bond is now $750,000 cash or surety for defendant Mark Gridley, 61, who will also be required to have GPS monitoring but will not be under house arrest. Gridley is also excluded from all school grounds in Douglas County, if he is able to post bond.

Judge Amy Hanley issued the ruling Monday after initially delaying the decision during a hearing on July 28. A decision was delayed a second time last week because defense counsel submitted a modified request that required further review by the pretrial supervision staff.

Gridley has been in custody since Feb. 8, when he was accused of a sex crime against a Prairie Park Elementary student. In July, 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 attorney, Vanessa Riebli, was 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, objected to a bond modification, arguing, among other things, that given the seriousness of the charges a higher flight risk exists.

This is a developing story and will be updated.