That term generally means "it's not my decision to make," it does not necessarily have to do with how much anyone gets paid. In this context he's saying that he did his part, discovering the device, and from that point forward the decision to pursue legal action (or something else) is not his to make.

So you want to personally go to the door of a person who already committed a serious crime? A crime against your workplace even, not against your person. That is a highly questionable action, to say the least.

"beyond my pay grade" is just an expression, it doesn't really refer to pay exactly, it just means it's someone else's responsibility

though if I remember correctly, it comes from the military where seniority (and thus decision-making capability) and pay grade are explicitly linked.

There really is a point where it's better to let legal take over if you're not a legal expert yourself. I assume the police is going to have a chat with the ex-employee and the gifted kid.

This sounds like a great way to get into a dangerous situation.

And to mess up legal cases.

Yepper! Chain of Custody MUST be recorded and preserved. Document Document DOCUMENT! EVERYTHING. From the moment it was found to who/where it went next, to every step you took with it.

This guy clearly was following that and did his due diligence of step 1 being, make a backup of the device. Then you have a record of everything as near time of discovery as possible, so if you're investigation hoses everything up, you can restore and start over.

The author is also correct in that once he's done his investigation, he passes it all on to the next level to do their job. So in his case, he's done. There is NOTHING else he should be doing. If he does it really could hose up any/all legal action.

Kinda like getting to court in a Sexual Assault case and finding on the arresting officer forgot to read the guy his Miranda Rights.... You can have 100% proof this is the guilty party, but he goes free because someone in the chain of custody hosed up their part.