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.

Updated at 12:10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11

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, and must surrender his passport.

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, who has no prior convictions, 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, had requested that the bond amount be lowered to $100,000 with electronic monitoring, and she had suggested a handful of housing options for Gridley if he was to post the $100,000 bond, including an apartment and his family potentially purchasing a house to ensure he was not in contact with even his own minor children — something the state had previously expressed concern about. She said that Gridley, who is to be presumed innocent, should not be subjected to living restrictions more stringent than those of convicted sex offenders.

In the end, though, Hanley rejected the $100,000 bond as too low and set it at $750,000 with the strict monitoring conditions attached.

During Monday’s hearing, Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis again objected to a bond modification based on the number of alleged victims — seven — and the nature and number of the charges. He said that Gridley being in the community could lead to unintentional contact with victims or families of victims or Prairie Park students.

Hanley said she gave the bond modification “a lot of thought.” As she was considering setting bond — something that is required by law — Hanley said she weighed the serious allegations against Gridley along with the fact he had no prior criminal history and the fact that cases with similar circumstances did not have bonds set as high as $1.5 million – an amount generally set in homicide cases.

“I believe this level meets the balance needed for a case of this nature,” Hanley said.