Arcadia couple arrested in alleged abuse of surrogate-born children

PASADENA, Calif. (KESQ) - An Arcadia couple who had more than a dozen children born through surrogates was arrested and charged today with conspiracy to commit child abuse and other crimes in what Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said was an unprecedented case of child abuse.   

Guojon Xuan, 66, and his wife, Silvia Zhang, 39, pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon through an attorney at the Pasadena courthouse, hours after they were arrested by investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau.

Xuan is charged with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit a crime, child abuse and accessory after the fact, along with five counts of dissuading a witness, while Zhang is charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit a crime and accessory after the fact, along with four counts of dissuading a witness.  

The couple was ordered to remain behind bars in lieu of $20 million bail each pending a bail review hearing next Monday.   

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office had sought $100 million bail for each defendant, but Superior Court Judge Kerry L. White said he believed that amount would be "tantamount to no bail."  

The judge said the two will be required to surrender their passports and submit to electronic monitoring and home detention if they are released on bail.

Defense attorney Mitchell Krems, who represents Xuan, told the judge that his client -- who appeared in court in a wheelchair -- has a rare form of leukemia and is recovering from a bone marrow transplant.   

Outside court, Krems told reporters, "This is another example of how my client, Mr. Xuan and Silvia, are being treated unfairly because they're immigrants, because they're Chinese."  

"They came to his country from a communist country to be able to have, to exercise the liberties to have as many children as they want. If they were white, if they were Elon Musk and they weren't Chinese, they wouldn't experience this level of scrutiny ...,'' Xuan's lawyer said.

"Some people might be envious that he's successful from the real estate business, but ultimately he wants to spend time with his children and he loves them dearly."  

The defense attorney maintained that his client "is not abusive whatsoever'' and said that nannies and staff were fired after Xuan learned about discipline that was allegedly inappropriate.  

At a news conference Tuesday morning discussing the case, the district attorney said, "This house could only be described as a house of horrors for these young, incredibly young children that had been brought to (this) house through the surrogacy process ... This case is unprecedented. It is horrific and the physical abuse, beating and punishment that these very young children received is despicable."  

Hochman told reporters that the two established a surrogacy agency that they operated from their 10,287-square-foot mansion, and that surrogates were paid tens of thousands of dollars  -- including one who was paid $135,000 -- with one of the surrogate mothers being told that Zhang was struggling to conceive and another being told that the woman had one daughter.

The couple lived at the home with 14 surrogate children between the ages of two months and five years, along with two other children, the district attorney said, noting that "learning centers" were allegedly set up for children between 1 and 4 years old who spent hours daily there and that the defendants monitored the discipline handed down by watching by 32 video cameras that had been set up.   

The criminal complaint alleges that Xuan entered one of the learning centers while a nanny was striking a child, instructed the nanny to strike the child harder and then "joined in the physical punishment, repeatedly striking the child's bare buttocks and delivering open-handed blows to the child's head'' and lifting the child into the air by one arm "while continuing to strike him'' and repeatedly striking the child's head "from side to side with sufficient force that the child's body lurched in alternating directions with the blows."  

Another room had no surveillance cameras inside, but the screams of children could be heard after they were taken into that room, Hochman said.   

The two allegedly learned in May 2025 that nanny Chunmei Li had struck their 2-month-old son, Walter, in the head on May 4, 2025, but that they did not seek medical treatment for the boy until two days later when Zhang reported that the boy had fallen out of bed, the complaint alleges.

Arcadia police began an investigation after doctors found the infant had been admitted with a traumatic head injury and bleeding to the brain, according to an earlier statement from Arcadia Police Department Lt. Kollin Cieadlo.

Seized surveillance cameras showed a nanny employed by the infant's parents violently shaking and hitting the child on May 5, causing the baby to lose consciousness, according to Cieadlo.

"Despite being made aware of the incident, the child's parents failed to seek timely medical attention,'' Cieadlo said in a statement. "The child was not transported to the hospital until two days later, after the onset of seizures.''

Xuan and Zhang allegedly held a meeting with the nannies in which the two "discussed the importance of physically disciplining the children in a manner that would not leave visible marks,'' and had "instructed multiple children to deny that the nannies had beaten them,'' according to the complaint, which also alleged that Zhang told one of the nannies to put away the sticks used to strike the children.

The children were also coached to deny that they had been beaten, the complaint alleges.  

Xuan and Zhang were initially arrested in May 2025, with authorities taking custody of the children who were born via surrogate and under the pair's care with the assistance of nannies.

They were subsequently released from as the investigation continued, with the Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau taking over the probe in September 2025 after Arcadia police requested assistance.   

Xuan faces up to 17 years and four months in state prison if convicted as charged, while Zhang could face up to 11 years and eight months in state prison, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Li -- who was charged earlier this year with a felony count of child abuse under conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death -- is still being sought by authorities and could face up to 12 years behind bars if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes Arcadia, called the allegations "horrifying'' and praised investigators and prosecutors involved in the case.

"I am heartbroken for the young children who had to endure this trauma at the hands of those who were supposed to care and protect them,'' Barger said in a statement.

"My thoughts remain with these children and their healing,'' Barger added. "I hope the entire community will keep them in their hearts."