photo by: Mugshot from the Prairie Park Elementary School Yearbook

Mark E. Gridley is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

Earlier this month, a Prairie Park Elementary School student told forensic investigators about a “test” that a speech therapist at their school had made them take — one that required them to be blindfolded with Band-Aids and tape and to have their hands bound behind their back.

Then, while restrained and unable to see, the child said the therapist moved a “long, cylindrical” object around inside their mouth, only stopping when they started to gag on it.

That’s according to a police affidavit in the case of Mark Elliot Gridley, 60, who was employed as a speech therapist at Prairie Park until he was charged with child sex crimes this month.

Gridley is charged in Douglas County District Court with one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of kidnapping, both involving a child born in 2014, but investigators have alleged that multiple other children were affected. Police previously said that there are “more than two potential victims,” without giving an exact number.

The affidavit, which the Journal-World obtained on Friday, is heavily redacted, with all of the names in it except that of Gridley covered with black boxes. That includes the child’s name and sex, as well as the names of the detective and the forensic interviewer.

It describes the account the child gave to the interviewer on Feb. 8, a day after the child reported to someone else — whose name is redacted — that Gridley pulled them out of class, bound and blindfolded them and put something in their mouth.

According to the affidavit, the child told the interviewer that Gridley brought them to his office for a speech therapy session. The child said Gridley wanted them to take a “tongue strength test,” and that he put “a wooden object wrapped in plastic with black tape” in their mouth.

After that, the child said, Gridley told them he wanted to do another test — one that required him to “put something over (the child’s) eyes so (they) didn’t go blind.”

The child said Gridley made them get on their knees while he was sitting in front of them in a chair, and that Gridley “placed band aids over (their) eyes.” After the child said they could still see, they said Gridley “placed tape over the gaps” that the Band-Aids didn’t cover “until (the child) couldn’t see any further.”

Then, the child said, Gridley “bound (their) hands behind (their back)” with black tape and inserted something into the child’s mouth. The child described the object to the interviewer as being “long, cylindrical with a triangle tip.”

Gridley then told the child “to move their tongue from side to side,” the child told the investigator.

After a short time, the child said, the object made them gag, and after that they said Gridley removed the object from their mouth; removed the tape and the Band-Aids; and told them “their session was over.” The child also told the interviewer that when the object was removed from their mouth, they heard what sounded like a zipper being zipped.

The affidavit also says that detectives searched for physical evidence at Prairie Park Elementary. One thing they found, while looking through bags of trash from the school building, was “a bag which was clear with mail addressed to Gridley.”

“Also inside of the same trash bag was brown rectangle band aids with black tape stuck to them,” the affidavit read. “Investigators also located larger black tape” consistent with what the child had described being bound with in the interview, as well as “an opened and empty NaturaLamb condom package.”

The detectives also reviewed security footage from the school’s cameras, and the affidavit said that over the preceding few days, “Gridley’s office window had paper covering the office so that nobody could see in or out.” They said that on the day of the search, the cameras captured Gridley entering the office, removing the paper from the window, and shortly afterward exiting the office with “three full canvas bags full of items” that he didn’t have when he came in.”

As the Journal-World has reported, the district hired Gridley in August of 2021 as a speech-language pathologist, and he was only assigned to Prairie Park.

Police last week asked parents at the school to talk to their children and contact police if they suspected something was wrong. They said concerned parents could also call (785) 830-7430 and have the department arrange a formal interview with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Douglas County.

Gridley is currently in custody at the Douglas County Jail and is being held on a $1.5 million bond.