When former Memorial High all-state football player Robert Joseph was arrested in Austin twice this summer, he knew the drill.

A search of Jefferson County records reveals Joseph was arrested at least four times in the year before his freshman season with the University of Texas Longhorns.

Commanding bigger headlines off the field than he ever did on the field at UT, Joseph, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound safety, was arrested by Austin police June 7 and charged with two counts of misdemeanor burglary of cars. He was arrested again July 29, this time charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

Joseph remained in Travis County jail Tuesday on bonds totaling $45,000.

At the time of his first Austin arrest, Joseph was barely two months into a one-year probation in Jefferson County. That was part of deferred adjudication orders that followed Joseph’s 2005 and 2006 Port Arthur arrests for possession of marijuana and evading arrest, both misdemeanors.

On March 29, Joseph agreed to pay $100 fines and perform 50 hours of community service for each charge, plus pay monthly probation fees and court costs, records show.

As a condition of the deferred adjudication orders, County Court-at-Law Judge G.R. “Lupe” Flores placed Joseph on two concurrent one-year probations with several conditions, including avoiding intoxication or drug use and random drug and alcohol screening.

Ed Shettle, Jefferson County assistant district attorney, said this week the charges against him most likely would have been dismissed if he had stayed out of trouble for a year.

Now, Shettle said he expects that his office will seek a motion to revoke probation. If, in a subsequent hearing, a judge finds Joseph violated the terms of the deferred adjudication order, he can assess the maximum sentence for each charge, six months in jail.

Of course, Joseph faces bigger problems in Austin.

Joseph faces five years to life in prison if convicted of the aggravated robbery charge, a first-degree felony.

Langston Adams, the lawyer who represented Joseph on the Port Arthur charges, warns against a rush to judgment.

“I was shocked to hear that (about his arrests in Austin), but I do believe we’re going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Adams said.

“In my experience with Robert Joseph, he’s a fine gentleman, very respectful, a mannerable guy. I don’t know any of the facts about Austin, but if you look at the pleadings, he doesn’t have any convictions.

“With him being on deferred adjudication, he didn’t have any convictions in Jefferson County and still doesn’t. Hopefully it all works out well for him and his family.”