OCOEE, Fla. – A man serving more than two decades for drug trafficking is now accused of orchestrating the murder of an informant who was set to testify against him in 2022.

Samuel Wright, 37, faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mugen Pintar, booking records show.

Pintar was shot twice in the head on May 15, 2022, after answering his front door to a man wearing dark clothing and a mask, according to the affidavit for Wright’s arrest warrant. The 33-year-old father was pronounced dead when he was removed from life support on June 3, 2022, the affidavit states.

[‘An act of evil:’ Wife of slain Ocoee man calls for justice]

Pintar was working as a confidential informant for the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) when he was shot, according to the affidavit. He was recorded in years past performing dozens of hand-to-hand drug buys with Wright and was otherwise credited with assisting the MBI in a large-scale drugs investigation targeting him, the affidavit states, linking Pintar’s work as an informant to Wright’s arrest in 2020.

Pintar was fatally shot about two years later on the night before Wright’s trial was set to start, the affidavit states. Investigators believe Wright — who was behind bars at the time and allegedly learned of Pintar’s identity via court documents — paid as much as $40,000 to have someone else shoot Pintar because Wright felt that the killing of a key witness would see the case dismissed.

The case was instead allowed to proceed after some rescheduling. Wright took a plea deal in March 2023 and his 22-year sentence began that May, records show.

Wright’s latest charges come as the culmination of several more years of an undercover investigation, according to the affidavit. In order to get to the bottom of Pintar’s killing, another informant was brought in to solicit Wright for a fictional murder-for-hire plot, the affidavit states.

This second informant directed discussions with Wright and others to the case with Pintar, according to the affidavit. During these conversations, enough was openly discussed for investigators to determine Wright’s direct involvement in planning Pintar’s murder, the affidavit states.