A couple received several accusations of abuse against at least 14 children born through surrogacy, as well as coercion of witnesses, in the US state of California. Some of the babies were just two months old.
"The number of children allegedly subjected to this horrific abuse is unprecedented," Los Angeles, California, District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement.
Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang, described by the American press as a couple, were arrested on Tuesday (6), in their mansion in the Californian city of Arcadia.
The CBS News network, a BBC partner in the United States, reported that both pleaded not guilty to the Pasadena court.
Xuan, 66, and Zhang, 39, are accused of conspiring to subject 15 of the 16 children living in their home to repeated physical abuse, after 21 minors were removed from their custody last year.
The couple ran their own surrogacy company and are accused of deceiving at least two women who became surrogate mothers. They said Zhang would have difficulty conceiving, according to the criminal complaint.
In May 2025, Zhang maintained a spreadsheet that recorded 21 children, including those born via surrogacy.
Authorities say the investigation began that same month, when Zhang took a two-month-old boy to the hospital with a head injury. She told doctors that the baby had fallen out of bed.
The couple's attorney, Mitchell Krems, said the accusation was a "mischaracterization" based on the evidence he reviewed, according to CBS News.
Hospital staff informed authorities and police discovered three different rooms in the couple's mansion called "learning centers" that were under the supervision of several nannies. Hochman described the mansion as a "house of horrors."
According to the indictment, the mansion had 32 cameras with motion sensors which, according to Hochman, were used by the couple to control the discipline imposed by the nannies.
The images allegedly show the nannies spanking, slapping or hitting the children.
One of them, named Chunmei Li, was accused of attacking the two-month-old baby who suffered the head injury, two days before being taken to the hospital. Krems said Li was immediately fired, CBS News reported.
Li is 58 years old and had previously been charged with a crime of child abuse, under conditions that could have caused serious bodily harm or even death to the child. Hochman stated that Li had a warrant for her arrest and was on the run.
In July 2025, authorities carried out a first search of the couple's mansion and placed 21 children in state custody.
The Arcadia Police Department said at the time that the children were between two months and 13 years old, but most were between one and three years old.
Fifteen of the children were removed from the home, while six others lived elsewhere and were also later taken into custody.
Krems maintains his client is innocent. The lawyer stated that he "is being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a large family," according to CBS News. Researchers believe that the surrogate mothers came from different parts of the country and were unaware that they were gestating different embryos for the couple at the same time.
Attorney Melissa Brisman, who represents two of the surrogate mothers, told CBS News that "it's great news that people are being held accountable for their actions and that there are consequences when the surrogacy system is abused."
If found guilty of the charges, Xuan faces a possible maximum sentence of 17 years and four months in state prison. Zhang faces a sentence of up to 11 years and eight months and Li faces up to 12 years in prison.
