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

A former Prairie Park Elementary School speech pathologist was bound over for trial Thursday on charges of child sex crimes against students.

Douglas County District Judge Amy Hanley ruled there was sufficient evidence for Mark Gridley, 61, to face a jury trial.

Gridley had been a speech pathologist at Prairie Park since 2021 but was terminated after his arrest. He is charged with seven counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, each with an alternative charge of battery, and seven counts of kidnapping.

Evidence was presented at a two-day preliminary hearing in early October.

On the first day, the court watched video and audio recordings of interviews between the Children’s Advocacy Center and Prairie Park students. All seven alleged victims were girls in second through fifth grades at Prairie Park. Their ages ranged from 5 to 10. 

Detective Meghan Bardwell of the Lawrence Police Department testified that Gridley carried out the alleged abuse on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 6 and 7. Video surveillance from the school tracked his movements and showed white paper covering his window.

In their interviews, students recounted similar experiences with Gridley across the two days, some using descriptors, such as “uncomfortable,” “strange,” “weird” and “suspicious.” They said Gridley brought them from class to his office one time and told them they needed to “test” the strength of their tongue or mouth. He covered their eyes with either large bandaids or tape or both, bound their hands, and put unidentified objects in their mouths, they said. Most said he told them to kneel down in a corner and that he stood or crouched in front of them during the “test,” and one child said he told her to lie face up on the floor.

Bardwell had testified that when police searched Gridley’s office on Feb. 8, they found and photographed the type of tape and bandaids the students had described. Police also collected a Samsung camera that students described in their interviews as a device they believed Gridley was filming with.

Police had also searched the school’s main dumpster and located a condom box and a receipt showing Gridley purchased them from Walgreens. The bandaids and bandaid wrappers some of the kids said they saw Gridley throw in his office trash can, the paper that covered the majority of his window, and other items connected to him were also found.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation test results showed DNA consistent with Gridley’s was found on tape police recovered, according to testimony during the preliminary hearing. Additionally, a palm print and fingerprints matching Gridley were allegedly found on a bandaid wrapper and bandaids in the trash. DNA samples from four of the alleged victims matched DNA on the recovered bandaids.

No seminal fluid or condom lubricant was found on items tested by the KBI, Bardwell had testified, but District Attorney Dakota Loomis had said the lubricant could go undetected after a period of time.

Special education personnel with the Lawrence school district testified during the second day of the preliminary hearing that there was no reason for Gridley’s alleged actions. Gridley broke policy by bringing students without individualized education plans into private meetings, and speech language pathologists do not complete their own screenings, the personnel testified.

Vanessa Riebli, Gridley’s defense attorney, argued prosecutors did not lay a foundation that meets probable cause. She said the 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. Students may have conversed with one another about the alleged abuse, which could’ve tainted their statements, Riebli said.

Hanley ultimately agreed with Loomis, who argued the evidence and additional testimony is enough to bring Gridley in front of a jury.

Gridley is no longer in custody of the jail as he was released Aug. 14 on a $750,000 surety bond. He has several pretrial conditions in place, including that he is not to have contact with any of the alleged victims or their families.

His next court date is his arraignment, scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27.

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.

• Instagram
• Twitter

More coverage:

MORE …

Latest Lawrence news:

MORE …