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.”

Jamie Balagia, Joseph’s attorney in Austin, was unavailable for comment Monday and Tuesday.

According to courthouse records, Joseph’s problems in Port Arthur began in the second week of Memorial’s preseason practices for the 2005 season, the senior season for the highly recruited three-year starter.

Aug. 18, 2005, was a Thursday, nearly six months after Joseph announced he had accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Texas and planned to sign a letter of intent to play with the Longhorns in 2006.

A Port Arthur policeman investigating a suspicious car parked at a pool parking lot at about 10 p.m. discovered Joseph in the car. The policeman smelled a strong marijuana odor as Joseph opened the car door, according to the probable cause affidavit for the arrest warrant, and discovered a marijuana cigarette in the car.

Joseph was arrested, charged with possession of fewer than two ounces of marijuana, and taken to the county jail. He was released on $200 bond the next day.

Feb. 21, 2006, almost three weeks after signing his official letter of intent to attend UT in front of television and newspaper cameras at a big ceremony at Memorial High, Joseph was arrested again.

It was a procedural matter – his first bond had expired – and he surrendered, secured another $200 bond and was released immediately.

A week later, Joseph’s lawyer, Adams, requested that Shettle place Joseph in a pre-trial diversion program. Adams said because Joseph had no prior criminal record, he should be allowed to attend a drug awareness class, perform community service, stay out of trouble for one year and have his record wiped clean upon completion.

Shettle agreed and on May 5, 2006, County Court-at-Law Judge John Paul Davis dismissed Joseph’s marijuana charge.

Five days later, Joseph was in trouble again.

He was arrested for a new charge, evading arrest.

The probable cause affidavit says police received a tip at about 6:30 p.m. on May 10, 2006 that two men standing outside a Port Arthur apartment complex were holding drugs. When an officer approached the two, one of them, Joseph, ran away and ignored several commands to stop.

He ran to another apartment complex, the affidavit shows, and entered an apartment which was later found to be that of Joseph’s family. The affidavit says the officer found Joseph hiding behind the shower curtain in the bathroom and arrested him.

The second charge caused Jefferson County authorities to re-file the possession of marijuana charge from the 2005 incident.

But not before Joseph spent the summer in Austin, attending classes at the University of Texas and working out with his future Longhorn teammates.

On Aug. 3, 2006, two days after Joseph played in the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star game and four days before UT’s preseason practices began, Jefferson County authorities arrested Joseph again on the 2005 marijuana charge.

This time, he was released the same day on a personal recognizance bond.

Joseph played in seven games for the Longhorns as a true freshman, backing up NFL draftee Michael Griffin at safety and covering kicks on special teams.

He made 14 tackles before a shoulder injury caused him to sit out the final six games of his freshman year.

According to a source close to the UT program, head coach Mack Brown spoke warmly of Joseph near the end of last season. He expected him to contend for a starting job this season.

Instead, Brown booted Joseph off the Longhorns’ squad three days after his June arrest. Joseph had been making plans to transfer to another Division I football program until the second summer arrest.

Now those plans, like Joseph, are on ice.