California pair charged with abusing at least 14 surrogate-born children

Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, have been charged with abusing at least 14 surrogate‑born children, some as young as two months, and with dissuading a witness, according to Los Angeles County prosecutors. “The fig of children who were subjected to this alleged horrific maltreatment is unprecedented,” Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J Hochman said successful a statement. The couple was arrested at their Arcadia mansion on Tuesday and appeared in a Pasadena courthouse where they pleaded not guilty, CBS News reported. Prosecutors allege that Xuan and Zhang conspired to subject 15 of the 16 children residing in their home to repeated physical abuse after 21 children had been removed from their custody the previous year. The pair operated their own surrogacy agency and are accused of making false statements to at least two women who became surrogates, telling them that Zhang was struggling to conceive. As of May 2025, Zhang kept a spreadsheet that tracked 21 children, including those born to surrogates. The investigation began that month when Zhang brought a two‑month‑old boy to a hospital with a head injury, claiming the infant had fallen from a bed. Hospital staff notified law enforcement, and when officers arrived at the residence they found three different rooms described as “learning centres” under the supervision of multiple nannies, which Hochman characterised as a “house of horrors”. The mansion allegedly contained 32 motion‑activated cameras that the couple used to monitor the care provided by the nannies. Footage purportedly shows nannies spanking, slapping or striking the children. One nanny, Chunmei Li, 58, is accused of hitting the two‑month‑old baby who sustained the head injury two days before he was taken to the hospital. Krems said Li was rapidly fired, CBS News LA reported. Li had previously been charged with one felony count of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death. Hochman said she was on the run with a $105,000 (£88,800) warrant for her arrest. In July 2025, authorities first raided the couple’s home and placed 21 children into protective custody. The Arcadia Police Department noted at the time that the children ranged in age from two months to 13 years old, with most between one and three years. Fifteen of the children were removed from the residence; six others who were living elsewhere were also later taken into custody. Krems said his lawsuit Xuan was innocent. “He is being targeted for exercising his law close to person a ample family,” CBS News quoted the lawyer arsenic saying. Investigators believe the surrogate mothers were drawn from around the state and were unaware they were carrying embryos for the couple simultaneously. Melissa Brisman, the lawyer for 2 of the surrogates, told CBS News: “This is fantastic quality that radical volition beryllium held liable for their actions and determination volition beryllium consequences if you maltreatment the surrogacy system”. If convicted as charged, Xuan faces a possible maximum sentence of 17 years and 4 months in state prison, Zhang faces up to 11 years and 8 months, and Li faces up to 12 years.