If I were a USSS officer specializing in computer crime and MIT called me after discovering a laptop that was used in an ongoing crime, I'd run like hell because I wouldn't want decisions to be made by the local Cambridge cops since they don't know anything about computer crimes. I mean, if you think the laptop represents a crime scene, you really don't want non-specialists handling it right?

If MIT does research related to military/defense technology, the possibility that such information was involved is probably enough to get the Feds interested, especially in the beginning.