A couple who live midway between Lebanon and Sweet Home found themselves richer by $300,000 last week, but didn't get to keep the money.

When Pat and Mary Cascio received the monthly bank statement Saturday for a old business account they keep about $100 in, it included a $300,000 deposit on Aug. 28 that they didn't make.

They called the 24-hour customer service number of Washington Mutual Bank, said Mary Cascio, and were told to call a teller at the bank in Houston where the deposit was made because the person who put the money in the account had to take it out. They tried Houston, but it was after the bank closed and they got no answer. Later in the weekend they tried the customer service line again and got only the automated answering system.

On Monday Pat Cascio went in to Lebanon branch of Washington Mutual, where employees needed a half hour to track what happened, find how the money got into their account and then clear up the mistake. He was told a person was transferring money and buying a certificate of deposit, with an account number one-digit different from theirs. The error probably wouldn't have been discovered until the bank customer in Houston received a statement and found no deposit.

The Cascio's account has been adjusted and so has the other person's.

"Now we're back to being poor again," Mary Cascio said.

They were happier taking the problem to the local branch that trying to talk to an unknown teller in Houston.

"I didn't want to talk to a teller in Houston, I wanted to handle it in person," Mary Cascio said.

She also was surprised that no one at the bank responded to their first call to the 800-number.

"You would have thought someone in customer service would have been really concerned," Mary Cascio said.

Mary Cascio is a third grade teacher at Oak Heights School in Sweet Home. Pat Cascio operates a small German Shepherd breeding business and is a writer for several firearms and cutlery magazines.