Editor’s note: This article includes some details of sexual assault allegations that may be triggering.

Special education personnel in the Lawrence school district testified Friday that a former Prairie Park Elementary speech pathologist brought students without individualized education plans into private screenings, which is against policy.

Mark Gridley, who had been a speech pathologist at Prairie Park since 2021, is currently charged with seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and seven counts of kidnapping. Testimony and evidence in the preliminary hearing for Gridley, 61, began Thursday and continued Friday. 

Detective Meghan Bardwell, of the Lawrence Police Department, testified Thursday that this alleged abuse occurred across Thursday and Friday, Feb. 6 and 7. Gridley was arrested on Feb. 8, and the school district immediately relieved him of his duties before the school board officially terminated him on Feb. 24.

Lori Stithem, executive director of special education in the Lawrence school district, testified Friday that out of the seven alleged victims, only two had IEPs at the time.

IEPs are vital for students receiving special education services to have their needs met. They’re also required to start receiving speech language pathology services, and parents must give written permission for an IEP to be initiated.

Kristi Toews, speech language pathologist at Billy Mills Middle and sometimes at other schools in the district, also testified Friday.

She said speech language pathologists do not complete their own screenings and are not permitted to pull students out of class without parent permission, according to a districtwide handbook for speech language pathologists. Stithem said it would be a huge concern if one did.

Investigators used the school’s video surveillance to track Gridley’s movement as well as students who entered and exited his office over those two days. Each alleged victim was alone with Gridley inside his office from a range of seven to 20 minutes.

Bardwell also testified Thursday that there was white paper covering the majority of Gridley’s window facing the hallway. The surveillance video shows what looks like an arm on the inside of his office putting another white paper up to cover the remaining visible top part of the window on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 6.

Stithem also testified that there is no districtwide policy on classroom window visibility. She said she’s aware in some instances, teachers partially cover their windows to limit distractions from peers in the hallway.

“I can’t think of any reason why an entire window would need to be covered,” Stithem said.

Gridley’s office window remained completely covered until someone in the surveillance video clip took the larger paper down at the end of the school day on Friday, Feb. 7.

All seven alleged victims were girls in second through fifth grades at Prairie Park. Their ages ranged from 5 to 10. Video and audio recordings of interviews Shelby Deist, child protection specialist with the Children’s Advocacy Center, conducted with them played in court Thursday and Friday.

All seven girls gave similar statements in their interviews — that Gridley summoned them from class and brought them to his office and said he was going to “test” the strength of their tongue or mouth. He covered their eyes with either large bandaids, duct tape or both, restricted their hands or fingers with the same bandaids or tape, and put unidentified objects in their mouths, they said.

They described different ways their bodies were positioned when blindfolded and bound — most seated and kneeling. One child said Gridley told her to lie face up on the floor.

They used “uncomfortable,” “strange,” “weird” and “suspicious” in their interviews to describe what they said they’d experienced.

Toews said there is zero reason why a speech language pathologist would take any of the actions Gridley is alleged to have taken.

Additionally, she said she’s familiar with an oral motor examination for kids who may have a severe articulation disability, but that she would let a school nurse do that.

Probable cause arguments

Vanessa Riebli, Gridley’s defense attorney, requested Douglas County District Judge Amy Hanley drop several charges against Gridley. She said prosecutors did not lay a foundation that meets probable cause.

She argued that evidence presented Thursday about a box of condoms detectives discovered in the school’s dumpster and linked to Gridley insinuated sexual assault but didn’t connect to other evidence or witness statements.

Riebli pointed out that the two alleged victims who told Deist they heard a zipper sound from Gridley while they were blindfolded had been friends and may have been communicating on the playground or via text message or social media, which could’ve tainted their statements.

Deist testified Friday that she was never aware of any text messages.

Bardwell testified on Thursday that when she asked students about texts, they said they didn’t have them, and she accepted that. Riebli questioned Bardwell’s decision not to recover any potential deleted messages, saying detectives know the best course of action is to review anything that might be evidentiary. Bardwell had agreed.

Riebli said LPD had “tunnel vision” in its investigation, and she questioned a comment Bardwell made to then-Prairie Park Principal Jason Townsend in an interview three days into the investigation. She said Bardwell told Townsend there were multiple victims at a time when more hadn’t been identified yet. Bardwell said her expertise is that in similar cases, there’s always more than one.

Douglas County District Attorney Dakota Loomis argued the evidence, including statements from the seven alleged victims, recovered materials, DNA and fingerprints, and additional testimony is enough to take Gridley to trial on all charges.

Hanley had questions about the kidnapping charges, but Loomis argued Gridley allegedly taking children to a secluded area and confining them using deception meets the statute.

Both counsels and the judge will deliberate, specifically looking for relevant case law on the kidnapping charges.

The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 18, when Hanley will determine whether there is enough evidence that Gridley should face a jury trial, and for which charges.

Gridley is no longer in custody as he was released Aug. 14 after making bail.

Defendants in criminal cases should be presumed not guilty unless they are convicted. Read more background on the case in the articles linked below.

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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