California couple arrested on child abuse charges in surrogacy investigation, police say
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California couple has been arrested on child abuse charges following an investigation into a surrogacy scheme involving at least 21 children, police said Tuesday.
Silvia Zhang and her husband, Guojun Xuan are expected to face conspiracy to commit child abuse charges, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s opulent home in Arcadia last year after an allegation of abuse, and another six living elsewhere were also located. They ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3.
Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children while the rest were born by surrogate.
Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of a nanny at the home violently shaking the baby, according to Arcadia police.
Arcadia police did not file charges at the time, in order to finish a full investigation, they said.
The couple told police that they “wanted a large family” and produced what appeared to be legitimate birth certificates, including some from outside California, that list Zhang as the mother of the children. Xuan was listed as the father on at least some of the birth certificates.
During a search warrant of the couple’s home last year, police examined surveillance footage that showed nannies beating the children who were sitting in a classroom-like room. They issued an arrest warrant for the nanny seen hurting the 2-month-old infant, Chunmei Li, but she could not be found.
Surrogacy is an agreement between parties to have a woman become pregnant, typically through an embryo transfer, and deliver a baby for another parent.
The practice has no federal regulation, leaving it up to states to set the rules if they choose to allow it.
California is considered a “surrogacy-friendly state” because it has clear laws governing the process. Both sides are required to have lawyers, and there must be a written, notarized contract before an embryo transfer takes place.
Investigators have said they were looking into whether the couple had misled surrogates around the country. At least eight women had come forward to say they were aggressively pursued by the couple to serve as surrogates.
The women, many of whom were first-time surrogates, say they were given misleading or incomplete information about the couple’s family situation and intentions.
At least one, Kayla Elliott, is now trying to get custody of a baby she birthed for the couple.
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Marcelo reported from New York City.
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