Is this Navy sailor a foreign spy? Or is he trying to amass more “Likes” on Facebook?

According to the Hartford Courant, the FBI monitored Kristian Saucier, 28, of Arlington, Vermont on suspicion of taking illegal photos of “classified systems” on the United States Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Alexandria and then destroying the pictures when he learned that authorities were wise to his clandestine activities.

U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced that a federal grand jury charged the sailor with unlawfully retaining photographs taken inside restricted areas and obstructing an investigation.

It’s still unclear what Saucier — a machinist’s mate from September 2007 to March 2012 — intended to do with the intelligence, as the feds have yet to comment further on the details on the case.

Perhaps more fascinating than any other aspect of the story is how authorities came into possession of the illegal photos that, according to court documents, were of the ship’s reactor, reactor compartment and maneuvering compartment.

To tell the nutty happenstance, here’s the Hartford Courant:

The Navy was alerted to the security breach when the town dump foreman in Hampton found a cellular telephone in a Dumpster and decided to keep it to replace his own. When he noticed that the phone contained photographs, he showed them to a retired Navy chief, who called the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Naturally, the sailor’s attorney says the case is much ado about nothing.

“We vehemently deny that Mr. Saucier ever intentionally did anything to harm the U.S. or aid a foreign national,” said Derrick Hogan. “The government is trying to levy an espionage charge against him. The government is trying to make it a lot bigger than it is.”

The brainstem of a nuclear reactor seems like a funny subject to start an amateur photography hobby with, doesn’t it?

If convicted, the Navy man faces max time of 10 years and a quarter of a million dollar fine for “unauthorized retention of defense information” and two decades and another $250,000 fine for “obstruction of justice”.