photo by: Screenshot taken with permission of the Douglas County Court

Mark Gridley appears via video conference from the Douglas County Jail during a hearing on Feb. 19, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

A Douglas County judge on Wednesday ordered a competency evaluation and hearing for a defendant accused of child sex crimes at a Lawrence elementary school.

The evaluation — to determine whether Mark E. Gridley, 61, is able to understand the proceedings against him and to participate in his own defense — was requested by Gridley’s attorney, Vanessa Riebli, and the state did not object.

Gridley, a former speech and language pathologist at Prairie Park Elementray School, is facing charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of kidnapping, both involving a child born in 2014.

Lawrence police, however, have alleged that eight children, between the ages of 6 and 11, were victimized by Gridley, who is accused of having abused the children under the guise of a speech therapy “test” while they were blindfolded and their hands were tied, as the Journal-World has reported.

Judge Amy Hanley set a competency hearing for May 8.

Gridley was arrested on Feb. 8 and subsequently fired by the Lawrence school district. He is being held in the Douglas County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.