An Arcadia couple was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit child abuse after investigators found more than 20 children born through surrogates housed in their residence. Guojon Xuan, 65, and his wife, Sylvia Zhang, 38, were taken into custody by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.
The investigation reportedly began after Zhang brought the couple’s 2-month-old son to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Doctors there discovered the infant had a brain bleed, according to Arcadia police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo. On May 7, 2025, the hospital notified authorities of the traumatic head injury.
Detectives responded to a home in the 600 block of West Camino Real, where a search warrant was served. Seized surveillance cameras allegedly showed a nanny employed by the parents, Chunmei Li, violently shaking and hitting the child on May 5, causing the baby to lose consciousness, Cieadlo stated. "Despite being made aware of the incident, the child’s parents failed to seek timely medical attention," Cieadlo said in a statement. "The child was not transported to the hospital until two days later, after the onset of seizures."
Arrest warrants were issued on May 9, 2025, for Xuan, Zhang, and the 56-year-old nanny, Chunmei Li. Xuan and Zhang were arrested in May 2025 on suspicion of felony child endangerment/neglect, with bail set at $500,000 each. They were subsequently released, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmate records. The nanny, Chunmei Li, reportedly fled to China before police could take her into custody, a law enforcement source told The Los Angeles Times.
As a result of the ongoing investigation, the county Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) was notified and responded to the residence. Authorities took protective custody of the remaining children in the home. A total of 15 children, ranging in age from 2 months to 13 years old, were taken into DCFS custody. Six other children had been moved to other homes, but all 21 were confirmed to be under Zhang’s and Xuan’s care, many born through surrogacy before the couple took legal guardianship of them, according to a broadcast report that quoted Cieadlo. Cieadlo added that the children suffered severe verbal and physical discipline, leading authorities to suspect they were being abused.
One woman who gave birth to one of the children told ABC7 she conceived through IVF before turning the child over to the couple through an agency called Mark Surrogacy. This agency, now known as Future Spring Surrogacy, is owned by Zhang, according to news reports and online records. The surrogate mother stated she had been told Zhang and Xuan had only one child. It remains unclear why Zhang and Xuan sought to have that many children under their care.
Separately, Xuan previously owned a property in El Monte that allegedly operated as a casino and a pot house where psilocybin mushrooms were grown. This location had drawn prior law enforcement attention, according to The Los Angeles Times.