California couple at center of surrogacy scandal arrested on child abuse charges

A California couple at the center of a surrogacy scandal was arrested on Tuesday. A law enforcement source confirmed the arrests to CBS News shortly before officials held a news conference to announce the latest developments.

Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang are being charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy to commit child abuse and dissuading a witness, Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. He is asking for bail to be set at $100 million.

The couple drew national headlines last year after authorities raided their Arcadia mansion in July 2025 and took 21 kids, mostly surrogate-born, into state custody.

Tuesday morning, detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arrested the couple at their residence. They were transferred to the Pasadena courthouse, where they were set to be arraigned, Sheriff Robert Luna said. A neighbor said Tuesday that helicopters and police could be seen at their mansion and the entire block is taped off.

"What has been publicly filed in the complaint today is incredibly disturbing. It involves horrific punishment and beatings and child abuse," Hochman said at the news conference.

Officials said the investigation began in May 2025 when Zhang brought a 2-month-old boy to the hospital with a head injury. 

"She appeared to be untruthful with hospital staff about how the injury was sustained and the hospital staff notified law enforcement authorities," Luna said, adding that when Arcadia police went to the home, "what they discovered raised even more serious concerns."

The district attorney said Tuesday that the children were seated for hours a day in three different rooms called "Learning Centers" under the supervision of various nannies at the couple's home, which he called a "house of horrors." The couple kept a system of 32 motion-activated cameras in the various rooms in the Arcadia mansion, he said. Footage from these cameras went to a television near their desk that the couple used to monitor the discipline given by the nannies. 

Hochman said the nannies were caught on video spanking, slapping or hitting the children. One nanny, Chunmei Li,  allegedly struck the 2-month-old baby in the head, the district attorney said. A $105,000 warrant for her arrest was previously issued, but she remains on the run, he said.

Xuan's attorney, Mitchell Krems, said: "My client is innocent. It is the nanny's wrongdoing who went on the run. He is being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a large family."

Melissa Brisman, an attorney for two of the surrogates involved in the case, told CBS News, "This is wonderful news that people will be held responsible for their actions and there will be consequences if you abuse the surrogacy system."

Brisman added that it's important surrogacy remains an option for those who need the help to become parents, but said there must "be adequate protections for those who enter the surrogacy system."

"We need to make sure bad actors don't ruin it for everyone else," she said.

On Tuesday, officials said the Arcadia Police Department requested assistance from the LA County Sheriff's Department in early September. A Los Angeles FBI spokesperson confirmed the FBI served a search warrant at the home, separate from a search conducted by the sheriff's department. 

"We will continue to work together to pursue justice for all 21 children involved in this case," Luna said.  

Maria Castellanos, a surrogate who carried two children for Zhang and Xuan, said after learning of their arrest, "I'm mad that everyone involved couldn't stop this so the kids wouldn't go through everything they went through. I'm just mad with the whole process, the whole thing. It's not just them."

"I trusted Silvia," she said.