The Daily Post reported today that the computers seized by police during the night raid of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home have been turned over to an FBI computer forensics laboratory in Menlo Park.

The FBI will go through the computers to look for evidence of the theft of a next-generation iPhone, said San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. A court-appointed special master will review the data from the computers and determine what is pertinent to the case, then bring that information back to court, according to Wagstaffe.

The Menlo Park FBI lab is officially called the Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory. The lab opened in Jan. 7, 2005.

The seizure of his computers and other possessions alarmed journalists across the country, who fear officials may learn who his confidential sources are despite a state shield law protecting journalists and a federal law prohibiting the search of newsrooms.

Chen, an editor at the technology website Gizmodo, got the scoop on a prototype of the next-generation iPhone after an Apple employee left it at a Redwood City bar.