ARCADIA, CA - A couple turned their Los Angeles County mansion into a "horrific" surrogacy compound where at least 14 surrogate-born children, some as young as two months old, were repeatedly abused and beaten by "nannies."
On Tuesday, October 6, the couple, identified as 66-year-old Goujun Xuan and 39-year-old Siliva Zhang, were charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit child abuse, Law & Crime reported. 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.
The couple employed "multiple nannies to supervise and discipline the children" residing in their mansion, including a woman who has already been charged with child abuse under conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, according to a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Twenty-one kids allegedly lived with Xuan and Zhang. Fifteen suffered "repeated physical abuse" and 14 were "surrogate-born children," the DA's Office said. The couple was investigated and arrested in 2025 but they were later released without being charged.
"The number of children who were subjected to this alleged horrific abuse is unprecedented," Los Angeles County DA Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement Tuesday.
The alleged abuse came to light after police responded to a report that a two-month-old baby had suffered a head injury. Xuan and Zhang are accused of creating a home where children were "systematically beaten and punished if they did not do what they were told."
Xuan and Zhang operated their own surrogacy company and allegedly made false statements to at least two women who became surrogates, the criminal complaint states. One of the women was allegedly told that Zhang was "a single mother struggling to conceive." The "nannies" hired to care for the surrogate-born children spent hours each day in makeshift classrooms inside the mansion.
"Xuan and Zhang caused three rooms within the Arcadia residence to be configured as 'learning centers,' where numerous young children spent several hours each day seated at desks under the supervision of nannies," the complaint alleges. "Xuan and Zhang maintained a system of approximately 32 motion-activated cameras recording video and audio throughout the Arcadia residence, including cameras monitoring the children and nannies."
Over an 11-day stretch from April 27 through May 7, 2025, video allegedly captured nannies spanking, slapping and hitting children. During one of the alleged incidents, a nanny struck a child with a shoe while Zhang and another nanny "laughed while watching the footage," according to the complaint.
On April 30, 2025, prosecutors allege that Xuan entered a learning center and told a nanny disciplining a youngster to "strike the child harder." He then repeatedly spanked the child, struck the child's head with an open hand and lifted the child by one arm while continuing to hit the child.
The cameras did not cover every part of the house. One room lacked surveillance, and some nannies were seen "carrying children into this room," the complaint says. "Children could be heard screaming from inside," prosecutors allege. The two-month-old boy who suffered the head injury was struck by a nanny on May 4, 2025. Xuan and Zhang allegedly waited two days before seeking medical care, telling medical personnel that the infant had "fallen from a bed," according to the complaint.
The duo also allegedly coached the children to stay silent with police and hid the sticks used to strike them. "Zhang instructed the children … to deny that they had been beaten," the complaint says.
The nanny who has already been charged, Chunmei Li, is wanted on a $105,000 arrest warrant. Xuan and Zhang were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, the 6th. The state removed the 21 kids living with Xuan and Zhang.
If convicted, Xuan faces up to 17 years and four months in state prison. Zhang faces up to 11 years and eight months, and Li faces up to 12 years. Xuan and Zhang allegedly recruited surrogates through Facebook.
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