Comments and questions have been popping up on Polk.Today’s Facebook page and from readers about the following: why was State Representative Trey Kelley allowed to wear his clothes underneath the iconic orange shirt all people processed into the Polk County Jail are required to wear?

Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats has been getting the same question, and has a simple answer: anyone with a pre-set bond on a misdemeanor charge turning themselves in are handled differently than those who are being processed and held at the Polk County Jail.

Moats explained that processing for those who surrender and aren’t staying in the jail don’t go through all the steps that an inmate being booked and who will remain in jail goes through, like extensive searches, de-licing and having to wear orange shirt and pants to identify themselves as inmates at the jail.

Instead, those who already have a bond set and are surrendering themselves are usually allowed to keep their clothes on and don’t go through extensive searching. All persons are required to have a mugshot made with the orange shirt to identify them as an arrestee, but Moats explained that they are usually held up over their street clothing.

“Most people usually don’t come in wearing a suit, so people don’t notice it,” he said.

He said that Kelley’s booking was handled no differently than any others on Monday afternoon, when he was officially taken into custody and released on a $1,000 bond he paid in cash.

As of this morning, Ryan Dover remained in the Polk County Jail with a $15,000 bond on a felony and misdemeanor charge in the hit and run death of Eric Keais in September 2019.