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.

This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 28, 2025.

A Douglas County judge on Monday delayed a decision on whether to lower the $1.5 million bond of a speech pathologist accused of molesting multiple children last winter at a Lawrence elementary school.

After a hearing Monday afternoon, Judge Amy Hanley said she will take the new bond request under advisement and likely issue an order on Aug. 4.

The defendant, 61-year-old Mark Gridley, has been in custody since Feb. 8, when he was accused of a sex crime against a Prairie Park Elementary student. Earlier this 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 attorney, Vanessa Riebli, argued in her motion to modify bond to $100,000 cash/surety that Gridley was unable to post a bond of $1.5 million and that the addition of the new charges had caused him to have to wait until October for his preliminary hearing, at which the court will decide if there is probable cause to order him to trial. The preliminary hearing was set for July 29, until the state added the new charges three weeks ago.

In her motion to modify, Riebli noted that the purpose of bond is simply to assure the defendant’s appearance in court and public safety. Riebli said that Gridley has no prior criminal history and therefore no failures to appear in court. A bond condition of electronic monitoring with home confinement would “assure public safety,” she said in the motion, noting that “his whereabouts will be known at all times.”

Riebli argued during Monday’s hearing that the bond of $1.5 million was inconsistent compared with bonds set for defendants facing similar charges, with a bond of over a million being more consistent with bonds set for defendants facing homicide charges in Douglas County.

Riebli also noted that Gridley has substantial family ties to the Lawrence area, where she said he has lived for the past 17 years, residing in a home with his wife and two children, aged 12 and 15. Although his wife had recently filed for divorce, Riebli noted that she was in attendance for the hearing Monday afternoon, and the divorce had not been granted.

Judge Amy Hanley said she wanted her court to be consistent on its guidelines — whether bonds or sentences — and asked the state if there were any similar cases. Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis said he did not believe there was an analogous case in the county. He also noted this case has the unique circumstance where Gridley was someone in an authority position who is accused of committing crimes against seven unrelated minor victims.

Loomis also said given the nature of the charges, he believed there was a higher risk the defendant may not appear and noted the state had concerns about having sufficient resources for monitoring. Loomis also noted if he was out on bail, Gridley would return to a home with his two minor children. Riebli took issue with that insinuation from the state, noting there were no allegations that Gridley abused his kids and felt it was “improper to take that leap.”

After a 10 minute recess and conferring in chamber with the state and the defense, Hanley said she was inclined to find out more information on the situation and took the defense motion under advisement. Although she noted it was impossible to have every single bond ruling be equal across Douglas County, she wanted to look at if it’s appropriate compared to other cases. Hanley also ordered that the defense look into a solution that could ensure Gridley would not be housed with any minors if he was able to make bail.

Gridley, who was recently deemed competent to stand trial, is accused of having abused the young students under the guise of a speech therapy “test” while they were blindfolded and their hands were tied, as the Journal-World has reported.

Gridley’s next hearing will take place on Aug. 4 at 1:30 p.m. and will be conducted over Zoom.