NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Thomas McCauley of Rhode Island thought his pocket had been picked. His wallet was stuffed with $8,000 in cash he’d won at a New Orleans casino.

But about an hour later, waiter Al Castro – who’d found the wallet stuck in a booth that the eye doctor had been sitting in with a friend – returned it. And McCauley was stunned.

He began sharing his story, lavishing praise on the waiter he calls “the saint of New Orleans. … The man can’t be tempted,” he said.

McCauley had stashed the cash, won Thursday at Harrah’s New Orleans Casino, in a spare wallet, with no ID, that he carries in case his pocket is picked.

His friends back home had warned him about that possibility. After dinner and a show, he realized the wallet was gone.

Crime has been a concern in this tourist-dependent city since Hurricane Katrina, and tourism officials have sought to ease travelers’ concerns by advising them to be aware of their surroundings, as they would in any major city.

McCauley said Castro, who’d waited on him and his friend, turned over the wallet as they rushed back into the restaurant.

When asked why return a wallet with no ID, Castro said McCauley was a “gentlemen, and I put myself in his shoes.

“Plus,” he said, “my wife’s been telling me she believes in karma. Good things happen to people to who do good things.”

McCauley said Castro refused his offer of a reward.

—

Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com

AP-ES-11-11-07 0947EST