ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama sheriff who is free from jail while appealing his felony convictions has been cleared to travel out of state for a business trip and an award presentation.

Court records show former Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely asked a judge for permission to make a business trip to Crofton, Kentucky, this month. He also asked for clearance to travel to Oklahoma next month to receive an award during a convention of the International Professional Rodeo Association.

Prosectors didn’t object to either request, and news outlets reported that Judge Pamela Baschab approved Blakely’s trips in an order released Wednesday.

The judge had to review the travel because Blakely is free on $50,000 bond while appealing his conviction and sentence, which resulted in his removal from office earlier this year.

Blakely, 71, was convicted of taking no-interest loans from a jail fund that held prisoners’ money and of stealing $4,000 from his campaign account. He was in his 10th straight term at the time of his conviction and removal, making his Alabama’s longest-serving sheriff at the time.