Brian J. Hogan is the person who found, and later sold, a fourth-generation Apple iPhone prototype to Gawker Media, owners of Gizmodo.com, according to a story published Thursday on Wired.com.

Mr. Hogan issued a statement, through his attorney Jerffrey Bornstein, expressing regrets that he hadn't done more to return the prototype to its rightful owner. The 21-year old resident of Redwood City, California was paid $5,000 for what he believed was "exclusive access to review the phone" after Gizmodo allegedly advised him "that there was nothing wrong in sharing the phone with the tech press."

Wired identified Hogan as the prototype finder by using social network sites and an unknown party involved in the iPhone discovery. He has been interviewed by law enforcement, but hasn't been charged with a crime and he is fully cooperating with authorities according to his attorney.

The story gets more interesting in a CNET report where Sage Robert Wallower, a 27-year old University of California at Berkely student, was identified as the alleged middleman. He may have been the one trying to sell the prototype device by contacting various technology sites before it was finally sold to Gizmodo.

It's not clear what will happen in the aftermath of the April 19 fourth-generation iPhone revelation made by Gizmodo, but it could be interesting as more information about the whole situation is revealed.

What do you think about these circumstances? Let use know by leaving a comment.

(photo courtesy of Wired.com)