California couple harvesting surrogate children charged with abuse

The arrests come over a year after a 2-month-old's serious head injuries led to the discovery of 16 other children.(CN) — A California couple at the center of a nationwide surrogacy scandal was arrested Tuesday on charges related to child abuse.At a news conference, Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced the long-awaited arrests of Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang.Hochman said the couple faces several felony charges of conspiracy to commit child abuse and dissuading a witness. They will be arraigned Tuesday at a Pasadena courthouse, where Hochman said he will be asking for bail to be set at $100 million.The investigation began in May 2025, when Zhang took a 2-month-old child to the hospital for a serious head injury and lied about how it occurred.After hospital staff contacted authorities, the couple’s 10,287-square-foot mansion in Arcadia was raided and at least 16 young children were removed into state custody, drawing national headlines.Due to the case’s complexity, Hochman said the delayed arrests were to ensure investigators had obtained enough evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.Fourteen of those children, who range in age from 2 months to 5 years old, were born via surrogates through a fake agency created by the couple. At least seven other children have been born through surrogates across the country since the investigation began, many of whom have been taken into state custody.According to state authorities in the complaint, Xuan and Zhang provided false information to prospective surrogates about their ability to conceive and the actual number of children they had. Each surrogate was paid between $65,000 and $100,000 per child.Hochman said the motivation behind having so many surrogate children remains part of an ongoing investigation with the FBI.Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the investigation revealed the children suffered “horrific abuse.”“The children involved in this case deserve to be protected and grow up in a loving environment,” Luna said during the press conference.“This case was everything but that,” he added.Three rooms in the home were used as designated “learning centers” where numerous young children spent several hours each day seated at desks under the supervision of nannies, Hochman said.A previous search warrant indicated the children all had shaved heads.Xuan and Zhang maintained a system of 32 motion-activated cameras throughout the home, which captured audio and video recordings of various physical abuse, according to investigators.Hochman described the recordings as “nothing short of absolute physical abuse, beatings and punishments on a daily basis."The couple was able to monitor the live feeds on a large television screen, in which they directed the nannies on how to discipline the children.One or more uncharged conspirator nannies were captured on surveillance footage repeatedly striking the children, as well as carrying children into a room without a camera, where the children could be heard screaming from the inside.Xuan is accused of chuckling while watching one of the nannies require a child to hold a “horse stance” and for instructing a nanny to strike a child harder.During the same incident, Xuan reportedly joined the physical punishment and repeatedly delivered open-handed blows to the child’s head while lifting the child into the air by one arm.“This house could only be described as a house of horrors for these young children,” Hochman said.Hochman said there is a $105,000 outstanding warrant for the arrest of Chunmei Li, the nanny who caused the head injury to the 2-month-old taken to the hospital last year.When detectives first came to the residence, the children were instructed to lie about their beatings, according to investigators.Hallie Weaver, a victim of the couple’s surrogacy scam who gave birth to a baby for them in 2024, expressed relief upon learning of their arrests.“My hope is that this arrest will bring some change to the fertility world,” Weaver said.“The U.S. needs stronger protections for individuals born through egg donors, sperm donors and surrogates, as well as for the people helping others bring new life,” she added.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads