Nanny Chunmei Lei previously charged with felony child abuse
October 7, 2026 – LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced that a 66-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman were charged on Tuesday with the abuse of at least 14 surrogate-born children -- some of whom were as young as 2 months old -- at an Arcadia mansion where they all lived.
“The number of children who were subjected to this alleged horrific abuse is unprecedented,” District Attorney Hochman said. “The alleged corporal abuse of these children is appalling and revolting, especially at the hands of those who were supposed to protect them. This was not a home where these children were loved and nurtured. This was a home where these young children were systematically beaten and punished if they did not do what they were told. These alleged abusers will now face the full force of the law as we hold them accountable for their despicable actions.”
Guojun Xuan (66) and Silvia Zhang (39), both of Arcadia, were charged on Tuesday in case 26PDCF00918 with one count each of conspiracy to commit child abuse. 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.
They are scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday in Department D of the Pasadena Courthouse. Prosecutors are recommending bail be set at $100 million for each defendant based on the potential for flight risk and the nature and extent of the crimes charged.
Chunmei Li (58), a nanny who worked for Xuan and Zhang at their Arcadia home, has previously been charged in case 26PDCF00694 with one felony count of child abuse under conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death. A $105,000 warrant for her arrest remains outstanding.
Xuan and Zhang are accused of conspiring to subject 15 of the 16 children living in their Arcadia home to repeated physical abuse.
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, according to the criminal complaint.
They also hired nannies to supervise and discipline the children who spent several hours a day in makeshift classrooms at the Arcadia home. There were more than 30 cameras inside the home that monitored the children and nannies, the complaint said.
One room was not equipped with a camera and some of the nannies took children inside where they could be heard screaming, according to the complaint.
Over an 11-day period, between April 27 and May 7, 2025, some of the nannies were caught on video spanking, slapping or hitting the children. In one instance, a nanny struck a child with a shoe and Zhang and Li laughed as they watched the footage, the complaint said.
On April 30, 2025, Xuan entered one of the classrooms and allegedly told a nanny to strike the child harder. Xuan is then accused of repeatedly spanking the child, delivering open-handed blows to the child’s head and lifting the child up by one arm while continuing to hit the child.
The suspected abuse was discovered after police responded to a report about one of the children – a 2-month-old boy -- suffering from a head injury. Li is accused of hitting the baby on May 4 and Xuan and Zhang allegedly did not seek medical treatment until two days later when they told medical staff that the baby had fallen from a bed.
On May 7, before police arrived, Xuan and Zhang allegedly told some of the children to deny the nannies had beaten them. Zhang also is accused of instructing one of the nannies to hide sticks that were used to strike the children.
If convicted as charged, Xuan faces a possible maximum sentence of 17 years and four months in state prison, while Zhang faces up to 11 years and eight months in prison. Li faces up to 12 years in prison.
The cases are being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri of the Family Violence Division’s Complex Child Abuse Section and remains under investigation by the Arcadia Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced charges against two people for allegedly abusing more than a dozen children.
View press conference here.
The charges filed in these cases are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
Source: Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office