California couple arrested for child abuse after 21 children found at Arcadia home
A husband and wife in Arcadia, California face child abuse charges after authorities found 21 children aged 2 months to 13 years living in their home. The FBI is also executing a federal search warrant at the property.
Arcadia 'house of horrors': couple charged after 21 children found in surrogacy home
A husband and wife have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit child abuse following an investigation into a property in Arcadia, California, nbclosangeles.com reports. Guojon Xuan, 65, and his wife Sylvia Zhang, 38, were taken into custody after the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said nearly two dozen children had been found living at the residence.
The investigation began in May 2025 after police received a child abuse allegation. Detectives subsequently discovered 21 children — ranging in age from two months to 13 years — living inside the home. The FBI confirmed it was executing a federal search warrant at the property on Tuesday.
Some of the children were born through different surrogates. Police said they are investigating whether those found at the home were part of a surrogacy scam. Xuan and Zhang are alleged to have operated a surrogacy agency from the property, using it to hire surrogate mothers across the United States.
At a Tuesday news conference, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and Sheriff Robert Luna described what they called "horrific abuse" taking place in a "house of horrors." Hochman said the couple installed three rooms they designated as learning centres, where children spent several hours each day seated at desks under nanny supervision. Through a surveillance system that included motion-activated cameras, the couple monitored nannies who subjected the children to daily physical beatings, he said.
"This case is unprecedented. It is horrific," Hochman said. "The physical abuse, beating and punishment that these very young children received is despicable."
Video footage obtained by authorities showed a nanny violently shaking and striking the couple's two-month-old son on 5 May, causing the infant to lose consciousness. The investigation had been triggered earlier when Zhang brought the infant to Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where doctors found the child had suffered a brain bleed. A nanny, Chunmei Li, was charged with assaulting the child by striking the side of his head but fled to China before police could detain her.
Police records obtained through a records request show authorities responded to at least six emergency calls at the San Gabriel Valley property since January 2022. Several additional calls were redacted from the documents.
Arraignment was scheduled for later Tuesday. Prosecutors are seeking $100 million bail for both defendants, citing the gravity of the charges and the risk that the couple may flee, Hochman said.
The parentage of each child and the couple's motivation remain under investigation. It is not yet confirmed how many of the children were born to surrogate mothers, though a bioethics watchdog group located one surrogate mother in Texas. The woman told investigators she had been misled into believing her child would be the only child placed at the Arcadia home.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)