California Couple Charged Over Alleged Abuse of at Least 14 Surrogate-Born Children
Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang, who lived in an Arcadia mansion, with abusing children born through surrogacy. Both pleaded not guilty, and their lawyer disputes the allegations.
A couple in California has been charged with repeatedly abusing at least 14 children born through surrogacy, some of them only two months old. The charges also include dissuading a witness.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said the number of children involved was unprecedented. The defendants are Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, whom US media describe as a couple. They were arrested on Tuesday at their mansion in Arcadia and pleaded not guilty at a courthouse in Pasadena.
How the case unfolded
The investigation began in May 2025, when Zhang brought a two-month-old boy with a head injury to a hospital and told staff he had fallen from a bed. Hospital staff alerted law enforcement. Police who went to the home found three rooms called "learning centres", supervised by several nannies. Hochman described the property as a "house of horrors".
The house allegedly had 32 motion-activated cameras, which the couple are said to have used to monitor the discipline the nannies carried out. Footage allegedly shows nannies spanking, slapping or hitting children. One nanny, 58-year-old Chunmei Li, is accused of hitting the baby two days before his hospital visit. She was charged earlier and is being sought on a $105,000 arrest warrant.
Surrogacy business and the children
The pair ran their own surrogacy company. According to the criminal complaint, they made false statements to at least two women who became surrogates, suggesting Zhang had trouble conceiving. Investigators believe the surrogates came from across the US and did not know they were carrying embryos for the same couple at the same time.
In July 2025 authorities first raided the home and placed 21 children in state custody. They ranged from two months to 13 years old, though most were between one and three.
Reactions
The couple's lawyer, Mitchell Krems, called the allegation a mischaracterisation and said Xuan was innocent, claiming he was being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a large family. Melissa Brisman, who represents two of the surrogates, welcomed the charges and said there would be consequences for abusing the surrogacy system.
If convicted as charged, Xuan faces up to 17 years and four months in state prison, Zhang up to 11 years and eight months, and Li up to 12 years.
