LOS ANGELES — A California couple has been arrested on child abuse charges following an investigation into a surrogacy scheme involving at least 21 children, authorities said Tuesday.
Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children while the rest were born by surrogate. They ranged in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3. Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of a nanny at the home violently shaking the baby, according to Arcadia police. They issued an arrest warrant for the nanny seen hurting a 2-month-old infant, Chunmei Li, but she could not be found.
“The house could only be described as a house of horrors for these incredible young children,” Hochman said. Arcadia police did not file charges at the time, in order to finish a full investigation, they said. Hochman said the couple set up three rooms they called learning centers, where the children spent several hours a day sitting at desks under the supervision of nannies. Through an extensive surveillance system including motion-activated cameras, the couple watched as their nannies subjected the children to daily beatings and physical abuse, he said.
Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s opulent home in Arcadia last year after an allegation of abuse, and another six living elsewhere were also located. During a search warrant of the couple’s home last year, police examined surveillance footage that showed the nannies beating the children.
