Officer believes he saw Bulger after FBI said mobster left state

QUINCY, Mass. -- A police officer reported seeing James "Whitey" Bulger walking a dog in Quincy two days after he was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1995.

But the FBI doubts that the man Officer Steve Kelly saw near Wollaston Beach that day was really Bulger. Agents believe the mobster had already fled the state, having been tipped off two weeks earlier to the pending racketeering indictments.

The Boston Herald obtained Kelly's report, which was not filed until 2006. The officer said it wasn't until he read a book about the Irish mob that he realized the significance of what he had seen.

Kelly recalled that the man he thought was Bulger was wearing a Red Sox cap and dark sunglasses and waved hello as he walked by with a white dog.

Bulger remains a fugitive.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)