Wired reports that they have identified the person who allegedly found a lost next-generation iPhone prototype in a Redwood City, California bar. The same person reportedly sold the device to Gizmodo for $5000, which spurred a legal battle from Apple and led to the search and seizure of the house of Gizmodo editor, Jason Chen.

Brian J. Hogan, a 21-year-old resident of Redwood City, California, says although he was paid by tech site Gizmodo, he believed the payment was for allowing the site exclusive access to review the phone. Gizmodo emphasized to him "that there was nothing wrong in sharing the phone with the tech press," according to his attorney Jeffrey Bornstein.

While law enforcement is still in the progress of gathering the details from Hogan, and continuing to decide whether criminal charges will be filed against him, he has not been charged with any crime yet.

According to the report, Hogan was only able to access the Facebook application on the device before it shut down and only later did he realize that he had a prototype Apple device. A friend of Hogan's reportedly called AppleCare, attempting to return the device, but they did not believe him.

"He regrets his mistake in not doing more to return the phone," says Bornstein's statement. "Even though he did obtain some compensation from Gizmodo, Brian thought that it was so that they could review the phone."

CNET is reporting that they have identified the person who contacted multiple technology websites on Hogan's behalf regarding the lost iPhone as Sage Wallower. CNET also believes there was a third person involved.

In an in-person interview with CNET at his home in Oakland on Thursday, Wallower said, "I'm not the person who found it. I didn't see it or touch it in any manner. But I know who found it." He declined to identify anyone else, however, in part because he said conversations with law professors had convinced him that Apple was a "legal juggernaut."

"I need to talk to a lawyer," Wallower said. "I think I have already said too much."

The criminal investigation is reportedly on standby as police try to decide whether Gizmodo editor Jason Chen is protected by the Journalist Protection Law in California, meaning that all of his belongings that were taken would have to be returned.