Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, were ordered held on $20 million bail Friday as prosecutors detailed the alleged isolation and violence inside their $4 million Arcadia mansion.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Caroline Lugo sided with the prosecution that the Chinese-American couple poses a flight risk, rejecting defense pleas for release during the bail hearing. The pair stand accused of running what authorities describe as a “house of horrors” involving 21 children produced through mass surrogacy operations.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney MacKenzie Teymouri told the court the children were systematically hidden from the outside world and denied basic experiences of childhood. “They didn’t go to school outside the home. They didn’t go to playgrounds. They didn’t go to restaurants,” Teymouri said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“They lived in this home and witnessed violence in the kitchen, in the bathrooms, in the bedrooms, in the foyer.”
The prosecutor described a grueling daily regimen imposed on the children, who ranged from infants old enough for high chairs to older kids who could sit at desks. “From sunup, to sundown, these children, whether they’re in a high chair or old enough to sit at a desk, sat in what can only be described as makeshift classrooms,” Teymouri said.
Their curriculum consisted of math, Mandarin and English, with instruction stretching nearly around the clock. The children were allegedly ordered to maintain perfect posture and attention, with beatings as punishment for any lapse.
Teymouri revealed that Xuan was captured on video sweeping a flashlight across beds of sleeping children, striking anyone found awake. The prosecutor told the court she had to mute footage she reviewed because of the “constant screaming” of children audible throughout as beatings continued.
The isolation was so complete that when Department of Children and Family Services removed the children last year, they were frightened by the prospect of outdoor spaces. They were “scared to go to the park because they hadn’t been outside,” Teymouri added.
Among the disturbing evidence, Teymouri said police discovered cremated remains of a surrogate child that had been mailed to the house after dying in Florida. The couple never opened the box, she said, and appeared “indifferent” to the fate of their children.
The couple’s nanny, Chunmei Li, has fled to China with their assistance, according to Teymouri. Li had been charged with child abuse for striking a child so severely the victim required hospitalization for brain bleeding.
Xuan faces charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, child abuse, accessory after the fact, and five counts of dissuading a witness. Zhang was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, accessory after the fact, and four counts of dissuading a witness.
Mitchell Krems, Xuan’s attorney, mounted a defense that shifted blame and invoked his client’s medical condition. He said Xuan had no prior convictions, attributed the abuse to nannies, and claimed the couple were victims of anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States.
Krems also pressed for his client’s release based on deteriorating health, noting leukemia treatments had left Xuan permanently wheelchair-bound. Zhang’s attorney countered the high bail by emphasizing the children’s living conditions, arguing the estate offered luxury accommodations.
“These kids, there was no cigarette burn marks. There was no cages. There was no dog collars. There was no abuse by belts. These kids were well nutritioned, they were getting education every day,” he said.
The case emerged when authorities intervened last year and took the 21 children into protective custody, uncovering what prosecutors describe as a calculated system of concealment and control. The children had been produced through surrogacy arrangements and kept entirely within the mansion’s walls, their existence hidden from neighbors and officials until the investigation began.
The $20 million bail figure reflects the court’s assessment of both flight risk and the severity of the allegations, with Lugo determining neither defendant should be released pending further proceedings.
