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This story was updated on July 29 at 4 p.m.

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Prince George's County police officers raided a Cheverly pawnshop Tuesday afternoon and seized a truck full of merchandise, some of which police said may have been stolen.

As of Wednesday afternoon, police had not yet shut down the Maryland Computer Exchange but were "working in that direction," said Maj. Andy Ellis, chief Prince George's police spokesman.

Prince George's County police obtained a search-and-seizure warrant for the shop in the 5600 block of Landover Road after officers from the county's newly formed Pawnshop Task Force noticed packaged items during a routine visit last week, Ellis said Tuesday.

"People don't buy products new in the box and sell them for 10 cents on the dollar," Ellis said, adding that upon surveying the shop he noticed other "odd" items for sale, such as beauty products still in the wrapper.

Police returned to the store Wednesday morning and retrieved additional packaged merchandise believed to be stolen from retailers.

The pawnshop's owner has not been charged.

The raid was the first major action taken by the task force, which was established by Police Chief Roberto Hylton last week after officers seized more than $70,000 in allegedly stolen jewelry and automotive light bulbs from a county pawnshop.

Nine full-time officers were assigned to the task force last week, under the direction of Maj. Robert Liberati.

Upon exiting the store Tuesday, Liberati said those involved in the stealing and selling of goods are "low-level thieves and drug dealers," using the money to fuel their addictions.

At about 3 p.m. Tuesday, police began to unload large flat screen televisions, vacuums and computer software —all still in their boxes — from the second-story pawnshop.

The items, Ellis said, which have not all confirmed to have been stolen, are believed to be from area Walmarts, Targets and Home Depot that have reported similar stolen goods.

Ellis said a Walmart representative identified six televisions seized in the raid as having been stolen from the Annapolis Road store in Cheverly between June 24 and 28.

James D. Burrow, who has owned the shop for eight years, said Tuesday outside of his store that he purchased the items seized by police and properly identified the sellers and tagged the merchandise. He said he did not have an estimate for the value of the items police seized.

Ellis said Burrow's recent transaction sheets were not filled out properly in some cases, and that some transactions were not recorded at all.

Ellis said Burrow returned to the store Wednesday and began removing items that are not part of the investigation.

Burrow's attorney, Ron Schwartz of College Park, said his client has cooperated with police in the past and reported stolen items to police, at his own expense.

Schwartz argued that police were making Burrow a scapegoat for the county's war against pawnshops.

"[Police] can come and take stuff; they don't need to make it a big show," he said, adding that such performances are meant to "mask the inability of police."

Schwartz did not return calls Wednesday.

Upon arriving at the shop Tuesday, police found a buyer at the store looking to purchase items to take back and sell in New York, Ellis said.

"So it's clear this is just not a problem for D.C. or Maryland," he said.

The seized items will remain with police as evidence until the investigation is completed and will then hopefully be returned to their sellers, Ellis said.

E-mail Megan McKeever at mmckeever@gazette.net.