A veteran Broward sheriff's homicide detective at the center of the controversial investigation into the murder of Deputy Patrick Behan has been quietly reassigned amid an unspecified probe by prosecutors.

Detective Sgt. James F. Carr declined to comment Thursday about his transfer from the elite homicide squad to a largely administrative post in the Countywide Services Bureau.

Sheriff Ken Jenne ordered the move April 12 after learning that Carr, a 24-year veteran of the agency, was the focus of an investigation by the the Broward State Attorney's Office.

It is unclear if the state attorney investigation is linked in any way to Carr's conduct in the Behan case. Assistant State Attorney Peter F. Magrino, who oversees the public-corruption unit that looks into all types of allegations against public employees, said Thursday he could not confirm or deny there is an investigation and if there was one he couldn't comment on it until it is complete under state law.

Carr and his longtime partner in homicide, Detective Eli Thomasevich, charged two mentally challenged teenagers, Timothy Brown and Keith King, with the Nov. 13, 1990, cop killing outside a Circle K store in Pembroke Park.

Brown, who is appealing a life sentence, and King, who was freed after pleading guilty to reduced charges and serving nine years, claim they were beaten and psychologically manipulated into falsely confessing to the Behan murder.

Jenne does not know the substance of the allegations against Carr, said BSO spokeswoman Cheryl Stopnick, who added that the allegations did not originate from the sheriff's office.

Three days after Carr was transferred, on April 15, Gov. Jeb Bush announced he was ordering the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an independent review of BSO's handling of the Behan investigation. Stopnick said Carr's transfer was ''not precipitated by'' the governor's executive order.

Carr, 51, and Thomasevich, 56, came to BSO from New York City in 1978. While both have received numerous commendations, their work on the Behan case has added fuel to a growing uproar that has focused on BSO's tactics in obtaining confessions -- especially from mentally challenged suspects -- on several old high-profile murder cases.

Brown and King and a handful of other witnesses who have alleged wrongdoing in the case said that Carr, generally, was the more aggressive of the homicide detectives.

Carr and Thomasevich were not involved in the equally controversial, secretly reopened Behan investigation last April.

Acting on a confidential informant's tip, sheriff's detectives spent 10 months and more than $250,000 investigating former detention deputy Andrew H. Johnson, who had been fired by the agency four months before the Behan murder and had an ongoing feud with another deputy who worked in the same sector.

Johnson repeatedly told his estranged wife and undercover agents he had killed a deputy outside a Pembroke Park convenience store. His description resembled the Nov. 13, 1990, murder of Behan, who was shot in his parked patrol car.

The sheriff's office never declared Johnson a suspect and, blaming media leaks, abruptly closed the case last month without charging him with a crime -- one of the key issues currently under review by FDLE.