A man accused of collecting and concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars his wife allegedly earned as a prostitute in Hawaii shot himself in the head in his New Jersey home in April, about a month after his indictment, according to his death certificate.

A federal grand jury in Honolulu returned an indictment in March charging Michael Paul Ernst, 43, and his wife, Khemwika Ernst, 38, with tax fraud, interstate transportation of money in aid of prostitution and conspiracy.

Neither defendant was in U.S. District Court for an April 13 arraignment on the charges.

Michael Ernst waived his appearance and asked the court to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf. Khemwika Ernst also waived her appearance but attended the hearing by telephone from New Jersey. A Thai interpreter was in court to assist her. She too pleaded not guilty.

A U.S. magistrate judge scheduled trial for June and allowed each defendant to remain free on $50,000 unsecured signature bond.

One week later, Michael Ernst was found in his New Jersey home, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to Ernst’s New Jersey Department of Health death certificate. It was Ernst’s father who reported his son’s death to authorities. The medical examiner classified the death as a suicide.

"I was shocked," said First Deputy Federal Defender Alexander Silvert, who was Ernst’s lawyer.

Silvert said he hadn’t even discussed defense options with Ernst because his office was only in the beginning stages of investigating the case.

Ernst was a petty officer first class assigned to a helicopter sea combat squadron at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. He was an 18-year veteran of the Navy and had served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The indictment accuses Khemwika Ernst of earning more than $500,000 as a prostitute from 2008 to 2013 while living in Kailua, and sending the money to her husband on the mainland — first through their joint Kailua Navy Federal Credit Union account, then by Federal Express. The indictment also accuses the Ernsts of lying on their tax returns by not claiming the money as income.

Because of Michael Ernst’s death, the federal prosecutor is asking the court to dismiss the charges against him. The charges against Khemwika Ernst remain.

The government is seeking the forfeiture of $547,147 and a New Jersey home that it claims are proceeds of the Ernsts’ crimes. It is the same Newton, N.J., home in which Michael Ernst shot himself.