photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Mark Gridley appears Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, with his attorney, Vanessa Riebli, in Douglas County District Court.

A speech pathologist who was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on multiple counts of abusing children last year at Prairie Park Elementary School in Lawrence instead received a 60-day continuance due to the “magnitude” of the case.

Mark Gridley appeared briefly late Friday morning in front of Judge Amy Hanley in Douglas County District Court. Hanley said the continuance, unopposed by the state, was not unusual — and was in fact “expected” — in a case of this “magnitude,” given the severity level and number of charges.

Hanley, following a two-day preliminary hearing last October, ordered Gridley to stand trial on 14 felony counts – seven counts of kidnapping and seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The state’s complaint against Gridley also lists an alternative battery charge alongside each aggravated indecent liberties charge.

Gridley had worked at Prairie Park Elementary as a speech and language pathologist since August of 2021 until his arrest in February. He is alleged to have bound and blindfolded more than half a dozen young girls under the guise of giving them a speech therapy “test,” which the state has characterized as a series of oral sex crimes.

The attorneys in the case — Vanessa Riebli for the defense and Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis and Senior Assistant DA Todd Hiatt for the state — said little Friday in court, but Hanley explained to observers that the continuance was sought based on the need for more time to review discovery in the case.

Hanley said the parties, who met with her in chambers before Friday’s hearing, were not ready to set a trial date but had “an idea of where we are headed.” She scheduled a one-hour hearing for April 13 to take up arraignment and date-setting issues.