Brian Hogan

The world on Thursday finally discovered the identity of the bar patron who scooped up the lost Apple iPhone prototype from a Silicon Valley beer garden, thus setting off a chain of events that has taken us far afield from the technology world, into the murky waters of journalistic ethics and police raids.

Wired.com first identified the individual as Brian Hogan, a 21-year-old who lives in Redwood City, California. But it wasn’t long before an e-mail from Hogan’s lawyer was shooting into the in-boxes of journalists everywhere, defending him as “kind of young man that any parent would be proud to have as their son.”

“He regrets his mistake in not doing more to return the phone,” said the e-mail from his lawyer, Jeffrey Bornstein.

The iPhone in question, an apparent prototype of Apple’s not-yet-released fourth-generation model, was accidentally left in the bar by a young Apple engineer. The device was eventually sold to gadget site Gizmodo for $5,000, which splashed it all over the Internet and caused a serious ruckus. Apple asked for the device back and took the case to police.

Authorities then raided the home of one of Gizmodo’s editors and seized his computers, trying to determine whether a felony theft had occurred. Lawyers were called, shield laws were debated, and the issue appears nowhere near resolved.

After it was discovered on the dirty floor of a Redwood City, Calif. bar, tech-enthusiast website Gizmodo carefully studied what it believes is the latest iPhone incarnation.

According to his lawyer, Hogan was handed the iPhone by someone else who found it on a bar stool. He then asked those around him if it was theirs, and took it home when nobody claimed ownership.