A Pittsburgh-area man accused in a knifepoint carjacking in Butler on Tuesday has a violent past, according to court records.

Among David W. Robertson Jr.'s crimes is an attempted robbery in Butler in 2000.

Just four months earlier that same year, records showed, Robertson, 27, was arrested by Allegheny County police and charged with rape.

More recently, he was accused of wielding a knife to threaten a girlfriend and her young daughter in 2005 just outside Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh police last May charged Robertson with robbery; however, that charge later was withdrawn.

Robertson remains hospitalized in Pittsburgh with serious injuries suffered when he crashed a minivan he had stolen in the carjacking on West Penn Street.

The multi-vehicle crash occurred at Routes 356 and 68 in Butler Township.

The suspect faces a list of charges in both the carjacking and crash, Butler and Butler Township police said. He could get years in prison if convicted of the most serious pending charges.

Robertson last was incarcerated in the Butler County Prison on Friday, when he was released after spending 11 days in the lockup for a probation violation in connection with a retail theft case.

Jail is somewhat of a second home to Robertson. Between June 2001 and Friday, he's been in the Butler County Prison six times, according to prison records.

Since 2001, he's spent seven separate stints in the Allegheny County Jail, authorities said.

He was last in the Allegheny County Jail four months ago. He was jailed after Pittsburgh police on May 6 arrested him for robbery and unlawful restraint.

He was released on Oct. 22 after prosecutors decided to withdraw those charges. No one at the Allegheny County District Attorney's office was available this morning to discuss the decision to drop the case.

Robertson escaped jail time in 2006 when he reached a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors in connection with a hostage-taking incident in Millvale.

Borough police arrested Robertson after he got into a fight with his girlfriend and then used a knife to keep the woman and her 7-year-old daughter from leaving their home.

Police went into the house and arrested the defendant after they saw him drop the knife. No one was reported injured.

Robertson was charged with attempted homicide and unlawful restraint in the case. Both of those charges were later withdrawn under a plea deal.

Instead, the defendant pleaded guilty, records show, to terroristic threats and simple assault. He was sentenced to 3 years' probation.

He also was given 3 years' probation in a plea deal for a sexual assault in 2000 in McKees Rocks.

Allegheny County police in that case charged Robertson with rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

Prosecutors, however, dropped those two charges as part of a 2001 plea agreement. The defendant pleaded guilty to lesser charges of indecent assault and corruption of minors.

Robertson in 2001 was sentenced in Butler County Court to serve 14 to 28 months in state prison for his conviction for a 2000 attempted robbery in Butler, according to records.

He was paroled 18 months later and placed on state probation for another 18 months.

Robertson in 2005, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to a retail theft case in Butler. As part of the plea bargain, he agreed to spend 6 to 23 months in the county jail.

But when his sentence court date arrived, the defendant failed to show up, records showed. He would not be formally sentenced in the case until 2007.