Arcadia Couple Plead Not Guilty to Abusing at Least 14 Surrogate-Born Children in ‘House of Horrors’ Case

A couple who ran their own surrogacy company were charged on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, with abusing at least 14 surrogate-born children at their mansion in Arcadia, California, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the BBC.

Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment that afternoon, NBC News and ABC7 reported. Prosecutors had asked for $100 million bail for each of them; the judge set it at $20 million each, according to both outlets. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The charges

Xuan and Zhang are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit child abuse, the district attorney’s office said. 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.

Prosecutors accuse the pair of conspiring to subject 15 of the 16 children living in their home to repeated physical abuse, according to the district attorney’s office and the BBC.

“The number of children who were subjected to this alleged horrific abuse is unprecedented,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement.

If convicted as charged, Xuan faces up to 17 years and four months in state prison and Zhang up to 11 years and eight months, according to the district attorney’s office and the BBC.

What prosecutors allege

The couple hired nannies to supervise and discipline the children, who spent several hours a day in makeshift classrooms inside the home, the district attorney’s office said. More than 30 cameras inside the home monitored the children and nannies, according to the criminal complaint.

Between April 27, 2025, and May 7, 2025, some of the nannies were caught on video spanking, slapping or hitting the children, the complaint says. On April 30, 2025, Xuan allegedly told a nanny to strike a child harder and then hit the child himself, according to the district attorney’s office and The Associated Press.

The case came to light after a 2-month-old boy in the home suffered a head injury. Prosecutors say a nanny, Chunmei Li, hit the baby on May 4, 2025, and that Xuan and Zhang did not seek medical treatment until two days later, when they told medical staff he had fallen from a bed, according to the district attorney’s office and the BBC.

Li was previously charged with one felony count of child abuse, and a $105,000 warrant for her arrest remained outstanding as of Oct. 6, 2026, according to the district attorney’s office and the BBC.

Prosecutors also say Xuan and Zhang told some of the children to deny that the nannies had beaten them before police arrived, according to the district attorney’s office and the AP.

The pair ran their own surrogacy company and allegedly made false statements to at least two women who became surrogates, indicating that Zhang was struggling to conceive, the district attorney’s office and the BBC said.

The children and the defense

As of Oct. 6, 2026, all 21 children connected to the case were in state custody, according to NBC News and ABC7. Authorities have said the children ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years, most of them between 1 and 3, the AP and the BBC reported.

Xuan’s attorney, Mitchell Krems, said his client is innocent and did not commit child abuse, according to ABC7 and NBC News.

Hochman described the mansion as “a house of horrors,” according to the AP and ABC7.