Southern California couple charged amid “unprecedented” and “horrific” surrogacy probe, Los Angeles County DA says
By Austin Turner, Jeff Nguyen
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LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday announced charges in a child abuse case involving a couple who had 21 children removed from their home last year.
Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang of Arcadia, who were arrested at their home Tuesday morning, were set to be charged with several felonies, including conspiracy to commit child abuse and dissuading a witness, DA Nathan Hochman said.
Xuan and Zhang pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $100 million each.
The judge lowered it to $20 million each but required them to surrender their passports and prohibited them from leaving their home unless they are attending court hearings.
“What investigators described today is horrifying,” LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger wrote in a statement. “I am heartbroken for the young children who had to endure this trauma at the hands of those who were supposed to care and protect them.”
The couple has been investigated by both local and federal officials for years as they’ve parented at least 25 children through surrogacy. Law enforcement began their investigation into Xuan and Zhang more than a year ago after a 2-year-old boy suffered injuries.
The staff at Children’s Hospital LA said the couple’s story that the child fell off a bed did not match the injuries. Attorney Mitchell Krems, who represents the couple, said the allegation is a “mischaracterization” based on the evidence he’s reviewed.
Court documents obtained by CBS LA allege that Xuan and Zhang operated Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC from the Arcadia home, which they used to connect with women willing to serve as surrogates.
The documents allege that they paid women several thousand dollars for surrogacy services, oftentimes lying about the number of children they already had.
“My client is coming from communist China where there’s a restriction on how many kids you can have,” Krems said. “He came to this country so he can exercise his civil liberties.”
Through the use of about 32 motion-activated cameras throughout their home, Xuan and Zhang often monitored their nannies’ discipline of the children, providing feedback and direction to them, the documents allege. On more than one occasion, the nannies were seen physically harming the children on camera.
The couple is accused of conspiring to subject 15 of the 16 children living in their Arcadia home to repeated physical abuse.
Krems said the nanny, Chun-May Lee, who allegedly abused the children, was quickly fired. Investigators said she has been on the run since last summer’s raid.
Earlier this year, CBS News spoke to 17 of the couple’s surrogates from around the country, and all of them said they didn’t know they were building such a large family. Many of the surrogates have claimed they were misled during the process and weren’t aware of the other women carrying babies for the same couple.
All of the children have been placed in protective services since last year’s raid.
Aerial images over the couple’s home on Tuesday morning showed a heavy law enforcement presence, including FBI agents on the property.
“The FBI is executing a federal search warrant at a residence in Arcadia in an ongoing investigation,” an FBI spokesperson told CBS News. “The affidavit in support of the search warrant has been sealed by the court and, therefore I am unable to comment as to the nature of the investigation.”
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