CYA OFFICIALS TRANSFERRED TO SACRAMENTO POSTS.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Daily News Staff Writer

Two top administrators at a youth detention facility who were suspended with pay in February were reassigned to desk jobs in Sacramento, pending the outcome of an investigation into wrongdoing at the state's only co-ed institution of its kind, officials said Thursday.

Ventura Youth Correctional Facility Assistant Superintendent Charles Kubasek and Chief of Security James McDuffy will work under Brian Rivera, deputy director of the California Youth Authority's Institutions and Camps branch. The assignments are effective April 5.

``By civil service regulations, we could not keep them on administrative leave indefinitely,'' said J.P. Tremblay, assistant CYA director. ``They will be brought up here and (will be) working while the investigation is ongoing.''

Tremblay said officials expect to complete the investigation by the end of the month.

Tremblay said both men are taking some vacation time before reporting to work; McDuffy is expected to be at work on April 12 and Kubasek on April 19.

Mary Herrera, the former superintendent of the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Camarillo, also was placed on leave in February, but was later reassigned as an assistant superintendent of another youth facility.

The three were immediately removed Feb. 24, following the release of a state inspector general's report blaming administrators for allowing incidents of sexual misconduct, staff harassment and lax security to occur at the facility, which houses wards 13 to 25 years old.

The Ventura County District Attorney's office is investigating five cases of sexual misconduct forwarded to them from CYA investigators. The district attorney has already charged a former teacher at the facility with having sexual relations with a minor female ward.