Judge Mark L. Wolf delayed sentencing retired Massachusetts State Police Trooper Daren DeJong on Thursday, citing a need for more information and the possibility of a conspiracy within Troop E in connection to the widespread overtime abuse scandal.

“I’m not satisfied ... I received the information necessary,” Wolf told prosecutors and DeJong’s defense attorneys at the Moakley Courthouse in Boston on Thursday.

DeJong, a 57-year-old retired trooper from Uxbridge, is one of 46 troopers authorities say took part in the scandal. Authorities said DeJong skipped or left early during overtime shifts, and created false traffic citations to make it look as though they were on patrol. He claimed nearly $64,000 in overtime pay in 2016, $14,062 of which was for unworked hours, authorities said.

DeJong pleaded guilty to embezzlement earlier this year. He currently receives $6,251 per month in his pension.

He was not sentenced on Thursday as Wolf said he needed more information to deliberate a proper sentencing. The former trooper is required to return a status report to Wolf in one week.

On Thursday, Wolf questioned why the case of Troop E has not involved charges of conspiracy or RICO conspiracy, known as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization. Such charges are typically brought to prosecute all individuals involved in a single corrupt organization.

Should a trooper like DeJong face a conspiracy charge, rather than a single embezzlement charge, he could face between 21 to 27 months in prison, or triple times the six month prison sentence prosecutors had suggested for him.

The judge observed that there appeared to be “a kind of interdependence ... among troopers” involved in the case, suggesting they were working together to conceal the overtime abuse. “Any one of them could’ve blown the whistle,” the judge added.

Wolf referred to the information DeJong willingly gave to investigators in the Public Corruption Unit of the state attorney general’s office last month. While the former trooper did not cooperate with federal investigators, he elected to share information on specific troopers and practices in the overtime scheme with state investigators, a move he and his attorney said was a first step in repairing his broken reputation.

In one example, DeJong told state investigators he received a text from a trooper one day that said “they would not be writing citations that day and that he should go home and be with his family.”

This, the judge said, appeared like a clear example of conspiracy among the troopers to coordinate their illegal activity of creating false citations.

Wolf also questioned prosecutors on how far back the scheme could have gone, and why charges for DeJong concerned only the year 2016.

Investigators found that the overtime abuse took place in 2015 and 2016 within the now-defunct Troop E. The scheme involved overtime shifts for the Accident and Injury Reduction Effort, created to reduce accidents on the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the X-Team, which focused on aggressive driving. An internal investigation began in the state police in 2017.

Federal prosecutors said the investigation is ongoing, but did not elaborate on specific details.

Prosecutors admitted that the government was “constrained” in its investigation, citing the fact that Mass. State Police records prior to 2015 were destroyed in a regular three-year retention process.

Wolf asked how long the AIRE program has been in existence, to which prosecutors answered the program had been around more 10 years. It was possible, Wolf said, the overtime fraud could stretch back a decade. Prosecutors acknowledged that possibility but said it would be impossible to prove because of a lack of available records.

Prosecutors also said there was little physical interaction among the troopers located across the state, and suggested there was not sufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy.

A total of 10 troopers have been charged in the state and federal investigations. Eight of those troopers were charged in federal court on counts of embezzlement. Three troopers were charged in state court. Lt. David Wilson is the only trooper facing both state and federal charges.

Former Trooper Eric Chin was sentenced to only one day in prison with a year of supervised release, while Trooper Gregory Raftery was sentenced to three months in prison with a year of supervised release.