An Arcadia, California married couple now faces serious felony charges after authorities discovered what officials are calling a deeply disturbing commercial surrogacy operation inside their home, where at least 21 young children were living under alarming conditions.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman stepped before cameras to announce the charges, calling the residence a “house of horrors.” Hochman described the allegations as involving “horrific punishment and beatings and child abuse,” while also reminding the public that both defendants remain presumed innocent until a court determines otherwise.
Authorities named the defendants as 65-year-old Guojun Xuan and his 38-year-old wife, Sylvia Zhang. According to Fox 11 Los Angeles, the couple converted three separate rooms inside their mansion into spaces they labeled “learning centers.” Investigators allege that children between the ages of one and four spent hours each day sitting at desks under nanny supervision, where they endured daily physical beatings and corporal punishment. Interior security cameras captured much of the alleged abuse, including footage prosecutors say shows Zhang striking a child’s bare buttocks and delivering open-handed blows to a child’s head.
The investigation kicked off in May 2025 when Zhang brought her two-month-old infant to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Medical staff found that the baby had suffered a traumatic brain bleed along with serious head injuries, which prosecutors say resulted from the infant being shaken and struck.
Hospital staff grew suspicious of child abuse after Zhang gave inconsistent accounts of how the injury occurred. The nanny authorities believe caused the infant’s head injury, identified as Xiaomi Li, fled the country and is thought to be in China.
After that hospital visit, law enforcement executed a search warrant at the Arcadia home, removed all 21 children, and placed them into protective custody. Investigators spent more than a year completing their work before formally filing charges.
Prosecutors allege that Xuan and Zhang paid women across the United States tens of thousands of dollars to serve as surrogates and carry Xuan’s children. District Attorney officials noted that the surrogate mothers had no knowledge of the abusive conditions inside the home and face no charges themselves. Several surrogates have since come forward to seek custody of the children they delivered.
At their initial court appearance, a judge set bail at $20 million each. Prosecutors pushed for a higher amount, arguing that the couple holds hundreds of millions of dollars, maintains international bank accounts, and carries foreign passports , all factors that make them an extreme flight risk.
Defense counsel for Xuan argued that his client is currently undergoing treatment for leukemia and presents no flight risk. Xuan’s defense attorney told Fox 11: “My client is coming from a communist China where there’s a restriction in how many kids you can have. He came to this country so he can exercise his civil liberties and have as many children as he wants. There’s no law preventing him from having all these children and now he’s being unfairly scrutinized not just because of the amount of children he has but also because he’s Chinese.”
The couple faces multiple felony counts of child abuse and corporal injury to a child. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Family Violence Division is leading the prosecution.
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