A couple with 21 children \u2014 19 of whom were born through surrogates \u2014 ran a \u201chouse of horrors\u201d at a sprawling Arcadia mansion, prosecutors said Tuesday, alleging that the pair employed a group of nannies who were encouraged to administer beatings and other punishments.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said that the incidents were captured on camera \u2014 and that the parents could be seen laughing at times as their children were forcefully disciplined. <\/p>\n
Guojun Xuan, 66, and his wife, 39-year-old Silvia Zhang, were charged Tuesday with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit child abuse and witness intimidation, according to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman. Xuan is also charged with one count of directly abusing a child. The couple are charged with helping one of the nannies avoid arrest after she allegedly hit a 2-month-old so hard he suffered a brain bleed, according to court records and a police affidavit.<\/p>\n
The couple pleaded not guilty during a lengthy appearance in a Pasadena courtroom Tuesday afternoon where attorneys argued over their extreme wealth and the likelihood they would flee the U.S. before trial. <\/p>\n
Xuan\u2019s attorney, Mitchell Krems, said outside the courthouse that the children \u201clove\u201d Xuan and Zhang, who are being vilified due to anti-Chinese racism. Xuan was seated in a wheelchair with a bandage on the back of his neck and intravenous ports sticking out of his chest. Krems said Xuan recently had a bone marrow transplant and is suffering from a rare form of leukemia.<\/p>\n
Hochman said the couple founded a surrogacy company in 2021 and duped several women into carrying their biological children to term, at times lying about being unable to conceive and begging for help to have their \u201cmiracle baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once inside Xuan\u2019s sprawling, multimillion-dollar Arcadia mansion, the toddlers were subjected to round-the-clock surveillance by more than 32 cameras, hours-long \u201clearning\u201d sessions and continued abuse by a group of at least six nannies that Xuan and Zhang employed, according to Hochman and court records. <\/p>\n
Xuan and Zhang sometimes instructed the nannies to strike the children harder, according to Hochman. The camera feeds showed the nannies carrying some of the young children into a space without cameras \u201cwhere the children could then be heard screaming from inside,\u201d Hochman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is unprecedented. It is horrific. And the physical abuse, beating and punishment that these very young children received is despicable,\u201d said Hochman, who promised a \u201creckoning\u201d for the defendants.<\/p>\n
Krems said the abuse was \u201call the nannies\u2019 doing\u201d and called any allegations that Xuan struck his children \u201cpatently false.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple were arrested early Tuesday morning at the Camino Real Avenue property where the alleged abuse took place, authorities said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department\u2019s Special Victims Bureau spearheaded the investigation. FBI agents were also on scene, but their role was unclear. <\/p>\n