{"id":226808,"date":"2026-10-07T16:23:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/california-couple-with-21-children-most-born-via-surrogates-charged-in-house-of-horrors-abuse-case-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T16:23:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:23:38","slug":"california-couple-with-21-children-most-born-via-surrogates-charged-in-house-of-horrors-abuse-case-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/california-couple-with-21-children-most-born-via-surrogates-charged-in-house-of-horrors-abuse-case-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"California couple with 21 children, most born via surrogates, charged in \u2018house of horrors\u2019 abuse case – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A Southern California couple who had 21 children<\/a>, most of whom were birthed by different surrogate mothers, lied to the surrogates and then subjected the children to vicious beatings and punishments, authorities said.
Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan<\/a> were arrested Tuesday after authorities served a search warrant at their Arcadia mansion as part of a child abuse investigation. They have been charged with conspiracy to commit child abuse and witness intimidation.
Xuan also faces one felony count of child abuse, one felony count of accessory after the fact and five felony counts of dissuading a witness. Zhang also faces one count of accessory after the fact and four counts of dissuading a witness.
In court Tuesday afternoon, they pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations.
Attorney Mitchell Krems, who represented the couple in court on Tuesday, said in an interview with NBC News that Xuan did not commit child abuse, \u201cdidn\u2019t need surrogacy for money\u201d and is being \u201cunfairly scrutinized\u201d because of his Chinese background and unusually large family.
\u201cHe\u2019s exercising his civil liberties to be able to have as many children as he wants,\u201d Krems told NBC News. \u201cThere\u2019s no law against that.\u201d
He said the size of Xuan\u2019s family is the result of his experience in China and its former one-child policy, replaced in 2021 to allow married couples to have three children, <\/a>and his desire to have a large family.
\u201cHe moved to the United States so he can exercise his liberty to have as many children as he wants,\u201d Krems said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Zhang and Xuan\u2019s residence, described by the DA\u2019s office as a mansion in the city of Arcadia, 20 miles northeast of downtown L.A., was the setting for egregious abuse.
\u201cThis house could only be described as a house of horrors for these incredibly young children,\u201d Hochman said at a Tuesday news conference.
Authorities began investigating the couple last year after a 2-month-old child was brought to the hospital with head injuries. Hochman, citing a criminal complaint, alleged that a nanny struck the baby in the head on May 4, 2025.
Xuan and Zhang did not seek medical attention until days later, he said, noting that the baby has since recovered.
Krems called what happend to the infant \u201chorrible,\u201d but said the blame lay squarely on the nanny and not Xuan.
\u201cMy client fired the nanny after he found out that she was abusing the child,\u201d Krems said.
During the investigation, authorities learned that Xuan and Zhang were running a surrogacy ring out of their home<\/a> and hired surrogates throughout the country.
Hochman said the couple often lied to the women about why they wanted children or how many children they already had<\/a>.
\u201cOne surrogate in particular \u2026 was paid for both a first and second surrogacy,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was told initially Zhang was a single mother struggling to conceive when she agreed to act as a surrogate. That was a false statement.\u201d
The woman was paid up to $75,000 per surrogacy, the district attorney said.
The couple failed to tell another woman who was seven months pregnant that they already had 16 children, he said.
\u201cAnother surrogate, they said they were seeking the miracle baby, and they paid that surrogate $135,000,\u201d Hochman said.
Over the years, the children were allegedly abused while Xuan and Zhang watched on 32 motion-activated cameras they set up around the home, Hochman said.
He described three rooms the couple called \u201clearning rooms,\u201d where the children would spend hours seated at desks under the supervision of various nannies.
\u201cEach one of these defendants monitored the nannies\u2019 discipline of the children that were happening in the three learning centers,\u201d the district attorney said.
He said during one incident, a nanny had forced a child \u201cto maintain a horse stance\u201d and Xuan could be seen on video laughing.
\u201cIn another situation, defendant Xuan entered one of the learning centers while a nanny was striking a child, and instructed the nanny to strike the child harder,\u201d he said.
Hochman alleged that Xuan also beat a child across the child\u2019s bare buttocks and struck the child\u2019s head.
\u201cDefendant Xuan also lifted the child into the air by one arm, while continuing to strike him and repeatedly struck the child\u2019s head from side to side with sufficient force that the child\u2019s body lurched into alternating directions with the blows,\u201d he told reporters.
He said the children were punished, physically abused and beaten \u201con a daily basis.\u201d
One room in the home did not have cameras. Hochman said the children would be taken into the room and could be heard \u201cscreaming from inside.\u201d
The couple is accused of trying to cover up the alleged abuse by instructing the children to lie, according to Hochman. During a meeting after the 2-month-old was taken to the hospital, the couple allegedly told the nannies not to leave visible marks on the children.
\u201cThis case is unprecedented,\u201d Hochman said. \u201cIt is horrific, and the physical abuse, beating, and punishment that these very young children received is despicable.\u201d
Chunmei Li, the nanny alleged to have been seen on video hitting the 2-month-old baby, was charged in May 2025 with felony child abuse, according to the DA\u2019s office and court records.<\/a>
The 58-year-old is the subject of an arrest warrant and has not been apprehended, according to records. There is no attorney listed for her in court records, and the L.A. County public defender\u2019s office did not immediately respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment if so.
Krems said Xuan \u201cfired the nanny and the people who are culpable for inappropriate discipline.\u201d
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said the children were subjected to \u201chorrific abuse.\u201d
All 21 children are now in state custody.
Prosecutors sought $100 million bail per person because of the serious nature of the charges and because authorities said the pair are flight risks.
The judge set bail at $20 million each with home detention and a protective order against visiting their children.
A bail review hearing has been set for Monday.
Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.
David Douglas is a supervising producer for NBC News based in Los Angeles.
Dana Griffin is an NBC News correspondent.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA Southern California couple who had 21 children, most of whom were birthed by different surrogate mothers, lied to the surrogates and then subjected the children to vicious beatings and punishments, authorities said.Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan were arrested Tuesday after authorities served a search […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}