Within hours after legislative leaders officially branded the Texas Youth Commission a grossly mismanaged "broken agency," Gov. Rick Perry on Friday appointed a special master to investigate a widening sex-abuse scandal and ordered sweeping reforms.

The moves came as Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle announced a criminal investigation of his own. After an article in the American-Statesman, Earle said he would look into allegations that an official report had been sanitized to protect top agency officials. The employee who deleted information from the report had not been officially named as of Friday night.

Also Friday, House and Senate leaders named a special investigating committee to get to the bottom of the growing scandal.

By closing time Friday, Earle had served subpoenas at the Youth Commission for files and records, state police and prison investigators had been ordered in to assist with the investigation, and newly hired agency chief Ed Owens had been directed to quickly develop and implement a rehabilitation plan.

In all, at least seven investigations — criminal, administrative and legislative — into the agency's operations were under way.

"We intend to aggressively investigate reports of abuse and hold people accountable for their actions," said Robert Black, Perry's press secretary. "This will be all- encompassing."

Asked whether a housecleaning of top Youth Commission staff was likely, Black said, "It's coming in short order."

Perry named Jay Kimbrough, his former staff chief and homeland security director, as special master to lead an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by staff, failures of Youth Commission policies and procedures, and other mismanagement that allowed sex abuse at the West Texas State School to continue undeterred for more than a year.

Kimbrough will investigate allegations of similar undeterred abuse at the Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Brownwood, as well as other allegations involving the West Texas center and others.

In 1995, then-Gov. George W. Bush named Kimbrough as conservator of the state's drug-treatment agency, Black said. That was the last time a conservatorship was used.

In February, the Texas Observer and The Dallas Morning News reported that two administrators at the West Texas lockup — both later fired — were accused of having had sex with incarcerated teenage boys, and that repeated complaints from staff members were never fully investigated. To date no criminal charges have been filed, according to testimony in legislative hearings this week.

As the leader of the investigation, Kimbrough will report his findings directly to the governor, Black said.

Owens has been directed to develop a rehabilitation plan to get the agency back on track.

Earlier in the day Friday, the Legislative Audit Committee unanimously recommended to Perry that the agency be placed in conservatorship, a rarely used, forced management takeover in which top managers get the boot. The committee also said that if Perry decided that was too severe, he could order a rehabilitation plan that would include sending in a team of nine auditors to help straighten out operations.

State Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, suggested anything less than a clean sweep was not enough if Perry wants to resolve the mess. "There will be a natural reluctance to get to the bottom of this issue . . . not wanting to look under the rock you're standing on," he said.

Perry opted against conservatorship, the option that would have given him less control. Black said the same result will be accomplished with a special master and rehabilitation plan. Such a plan should be finished within a month, for the Legislature to review.

The flurry of developments came as political tensions about the scandal flared:

•State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, filed a bill mandating the agency be placed in conservatorship, arguing that the rehabilitation plan was akin to sending accountants to investigate sexual abuse. Dunnam said he intended to press for a vote Monday by the full House on his bill, which garnered quick support Friday from several dozen members before Perry announced his plan.

•Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, Dunnam and other lawmakers called for the immediate assignment of Texas Rangers to each Youth Commission facility to ensure that children are protected from abuse and that coercion of potential witnesses in the investigation does not occur, and to protect agency records from destruction. Black said Perry is confident his Friday orders will accomplish the same goal.

•Concerned that a cover-up might be under way, as officials moved to protect themselves from the widening criminal investigation, House Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, demanded in a letter that the Youth Commission ensure that all records be kept intact. "Any reports I receive indicating that the staff at the Texas Youth Commission are removing or destroying documents will be dealt with immediately," Turner stated in his letter to Owens, who was named Thursday to temporarily run the agency. Within hours, a confidential e-mail from Deputy Executive Director Linda Reyes ordered all Youth Commission employees to "please refrain from any document shredding until further notice."

•Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, on Friday named 14 lawmakers, seven from each chamber, to a special investigating committee. Staff aides were poised to begin subpoenaing officials and documents as early as Monday, in time for Capitol hearings later in the week.

The rapid-fire actions came as political haggling about a resolution threatened to delay an official response.

Participants in the meetings said Perry was adamant that he wanted leeway to solve the problem — not through a conservatorship. He remained upset by a Wednesday vote for conservatorship by the Senate, just after he had fired the Youth Commission board chairman and recommended Owens be hired to replace Youth Commission employee Neil Nichols as the acting agency head.

The executive director, Dwight Harris, abruptly resigned a week ago as the scandal heated up.