Santa Fe, N.M., janitor Bruce Buck has received both good and very bad news regarding the 9.7-ct. bauble he fished out of a vacuum cleaner while cleaning offices last February.

The good news is he gets to keep the “gem.” The bad news is it’s a worthless fake.

Buck made headlines when he handed the stone-originally appraised at $19,000-to police. When no owner was found, and the police wanted to auction it off, there was a public outcry in favor of returning it to Buck as a tribute to his honesty.

The story took a strange twist when a local jeweler examined the diamond and declared it a fake. Now Buck gets to keep his trinket, but he admits it isn’t much of a victory. As he told the Albuquerque Journal: “God does have a sense of humor.”