Jack ‘Ziz’ LaSota, the apparent leader of the Zizians, a cult-like group tied to at least six deaths, was arrested Sunday evening in western Maryland, Maryland law enforcement officials report.

LaSota, who uses she/her pronouns, is being held in the Allegany County jail on charges of trespassing, wrongly possessing a handgun in a vehicle and obstructing or hindering authorities, according to online court records.

Further details about the Maryland charges against LaSota were not readily available Monday. An attorney for LaSota did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Maryland State Police, the Cumberland County State’s Attorney’s Office and the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday; courts and many government agencies are closed in observation of President’s Day.

According to blogger Andy Ngo, co-member Michelle J. Zajko also was arrested, and both were armed.

As reported in Vermont Daily Chronicle, LaSota is the founder and leader of a Berkeley, California cult, some of those members are suspects in the January 20 homicide of Border Patrol agent David Maland in Coventry. Zajko is believed by police to have provided the firearms for the killing, for which the Chief suspect is Teresa Youngblut, who is now being held in a federal custody in a New Hampshire prison, pending the outcome of her trial in Burlington.

Zajko already known to law enforcement – The following was reported today in the Newport Dispatch:

Federal authorities had been seeking Zajko since the fatal shooting. Investigators believe Zajko purchased two handguns — a .40-caliber and a .380-caliber semiautomatic — from a Mount Tabor gun store in February 2024. These weapons were recovered at the scene where Maland was killed during a traffic stop that also left one suspect dead.

At the time of the Border Patrol shooting, Zajko owned multiple properties in Orleans County, including an undeveloped plot in Derby and a residence on Webster Road in Coventry. The ATF had issued bulletins to gun dealers seeking information about her firearms purchases.

Zajko was already known to law enforcement. In January 2023, Pennsylvania investigators searched her Coventry home after her parents were found dead from gunshot wounds in their Delaware County residence. That search recovered cartridges potentially matching bullets from the Pennsylvania deaths.

Zajko was arrested in Maryland following “on-site activity” rather than warrants, according to a spokesperson the Allegany County Detention Center.

Zajko remains held pending a bail review hearing. Maryland State Police have confirmed the FBI is now involved in the investigation.