LOS ANGELES — A wealthy suburban Los Angeles couple recruited women across the country to serve as surrogates, promising them they were simply looking for another child to expand their family.
Instead, prosecutors say, the couple used multiple surrogates at once, gathered a brood of 21 children — some as young as 2 months old — and raised them in a “house of horrors” where they suffered daily beatings from cruel nannies while the couple watched and laughed from a network of surveillance cameras.
Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, were arrested Tuesday at their home in Arcadia, a city about 12 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
The couple faces several counts of child abuse as well as conspiracy to commit child abuse, accessory after the fact and dissuading a witness, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
“This case is unprecedented. It is horrible,” he said at a morning press conference. “The physical violence, beatings and punishments inflicted on these very young children are despicable. »
Prosecutors were seeking $100 million bail for the couple because of the seriousness of the charges and the flight risk, Hochman said. They were expected to be arraigned at the Pasadena courthouse later today.
Fifteen children were removed from the lavish home last year after an allegation of abuse, and six others living elsewhere were also found. They ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years, most between 1 and 3 years old. Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children, while the others ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years old. carried and delivered by surrogate mothers.
Hochman said the couple started an agency, Mark Surrogacy, that they operated out of their homes and hired surrogates throughout the United States. But prosecutors said the couple misled the women, telling some they couldn’t conceive and others that they only had one child and wanted one more to complete their family.
“The house can only be described as a house of horrors for these incredible young children,” Hochman said.
Prosecutor says videos show nannies and Xuan abusing children
Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had suffered head trauma, the result of being violently shaken by a nanny, according to Arcadia police.
Police did not file charges at the time, saying they needed to complete the investigation.
Hochman said the couple set up three rooms they called learning centers, where 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 the nannies physically abuse the children, including daily beatings, he said.
In one video, Xuan is shown entering a room and telling a nanny to hit a child harder, Hochman said, and in another he joins the nanny in hitting the child.
The nannies were allegedly told “not to leave any physical marks on the children”, and when police arrived to investigate in May 2025, the children were asked to deny being beaten.
After reviewing surveillance video, police issued an arrest warrant for Chunmei Li, the nanny seen injuring the 2-month-old baby, but she could not be found.
Hochman said “there will be accountability” for the defendants, one of whom faces more than 17 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutor says reason for discipline still under investigation
Asked about the couple’s motives, Hochman said it was part of the investigation, as was the parentage of each child.
Mitchell Krems, Xuan’s attorney, previously told ABC7 that Xuan’s goal was to raise children who would become productive adults.
“The reason he has all these children is because he wants them to contribute to society. He’s not a complacent man,” Krems said. “Some rich people may spend on jewelry or cars, but he actually spends his resources to help his children get educated so that they can become the philosophers, doctors, researchers and inventors who help society.”
Krems did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment.
Surrogate mothers say they were misled
Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman agrees to carry and give birth to a child for another person or couple, often after an embryo transfer.
There is no comprehensive federal law regulating surrogacy, leaving most of the rules to the states.
California is considered surrogacy-friendly because it has clear laws governing the process. Both parties must have attorneys and there must be a written, notarized contract before an embryo transfer takes place.
Investigators said they were looking into whether the couple misled surrogates across the country and at least eight women have come forward to say they were aggressively pursued for serving as surrogates.
The women, many of whom were first-time surrogates, reported receiving misleading or incomplete information about the couple’s family situation and intentions.
At least one, Kayla Elliott, is now trying to gain custody of a baby she gave birth to the couple.
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Marcelo reported from New York.
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