California couple arrested on child abuse charges in horrifying surrogacy probe
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California couple has been arrested on child abuse charges following an investigation into a surrogacy scheme involving at least 21 children ranging in age from a few months to 13 years, authorities said Tuesday.
Silvia Zhang and her husband, Guojun Xuan face several counts of child abuse and conspiracy to commit child abuse, accessory after the fact, and dissuading a witness, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.
“This case is unprecedented. It is horrific. And the physical abuse, beating and punishment that these very young children received, is despicable,” Hochman said during a news conference Tuesday morning.
Prosecutors are seeking a $100 million bail for the couple because of the serious nature of the charges and due to their flight risk potential, Hochman said. They will be arraigned at the Pasadena courthouse later Tuesday.
Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s opulent home in Arcadia last year after an allegation of abuse, and another six living elsewhere were also located. They ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3. Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children while the rest were born by surrogate.
Hochman said the couple set up a surrogacy agency that they operated from their home and used that agency to hire surrogates throughout U.S.
“The house could only be described as a house of horrors for these incredible young children,” Hochman said.
Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of a nanny at the home violently shaking the baby, according to Arcadia police.
Arcadia police did not file charges at the time, in order to finish a full investigation, they said.
Hochman said the couple set up three rooms they called learning centers, where the children spent several hours a day sitting at desks under the supervision of nannies.
Through an extensive surveillance system including motion-activated cameras, the couple watched as their nannies subjected the children to daily beatings and physical abuse, he said.
The nannies were told “not to leave any physical marks on the children,” Hochman said.
Before police arrived to investigate in May 2025, Zhang and Xuan told the children to deny they had been beaten.
Police examined surveillance footage that showed the nannies beating the children. They issued an arrest warrant for the nanny seen hurting a 2-month-old infant, Chunmei Li, but she could not be found.
“There will be a reckoning” for the defendants, one of whom faces more than 17 years in prison if convicted, Hochman said.
When asked about the couple’s motivation, Hochman said that was part of the ongoing investigation, as is the parentage of each of the children.
Mitchell Krems, Xuan’s attorney, previously told ABC7 that Xuan’s goal was to raise children who become productive adults.
“The reason he has all these children is because he wants them to contribute to society. He is not a man who is self-indulgent," Krems said. "Some who are wealthy might spend on jewelry or cars, but he is actually spending his resources to help his children become educated so that they can be the philosophers, the physicians, the researchers and the inventors that help society.”
Krems did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Tuesday’s arrests.
Surrogacy is an agreement between parties to have a woman become pregnant, typically through an embryo transfer, and deliver a baby for another parent.
The practice has no federal regulation, leaving it up to states to set the rules if they choose to allow it.
California is considered a “surrogacy-friendly state” because it has clear laws governing the process. Both sides are required to have lawyers, and there must be a written, notarized contract before an embryo transfer takes place.
Investigators have said they were looking into whether the couple had misled surrogates around the country. At least eight women had come forward to say they were aggressively pursued by the couple to serve as surrogates.
The women, many of whom were first-time surrogates, say they were given misleading or incomplete information about the couple’s family situation and intentions.
At least one, Kayla Elliott, is now trying to get custody of a baby she birthed for the couple.
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Marcelo reported from New York City.
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