A couple who had 21 surrogate children including 17 toddlers in their mansion didn’t tell surrogates about the huge army of youngsters they were building, it is claimed.
Guojun Xuan, 65, and Silvia Zhang, 38, who were arrested and charged in May, also hired a fleet of abusive nannies to care for their mega-brood, it was alleged Wednesday.
The age-gap pair, who lived in an enormous $4.1 million mansion in Arcadia, just north of Los Angeles, are said to have sought the help of a huge fleet of surrogates because Silvia wanted a huge family.
Details of their astonishing family emerged this week after all 21 of the children were taken into custody by social services.
And a haunting photo of one of the babies emerged online after the infant’s surrogate mother Kayla Elliot, 27, launched a bid to get the baby back.
Elliott says she was told the baby was going to a loving family who only had one child.
But CBS Los Angeles said the huge brood of children kept secret by Xuan and Zhang were aged between two months-old and 13 years-old, with seventeen aged three or under.
One of the surrogate mothers who gave up her child to the couple, Kayle Elliot, 27, said she was heartbroken to discover that her baby girl was not given to a loving family with only one child, as she had been told
A California couple who acquired 21 surrogate-born children kept them in a hotel-style $4.1 million mansion where they were abused, police say
Investigators believe the couple solicited babies from surrogate mothers from around the country, none of whom knew they were carrying embryos for the same couple at the same time.
They were busted after security cameras in the home allegedly showed their nanny Chunmei Li, 56, ‘physically and verbally’ abusing the children, and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.
Neighbors said the sprawling nine-bedroom mansion is set up like a hotel, with a ‘hotel desk and a gentleman sitting behind it like a clerk’, local Art Romero told CBS News.
Despite Zhang’s alleged claim that she just wanted a large family, one expert fears the mega-family may have been connected to trafficking.
Guojun Xuan, 65, (left) and his partner Silvia Zhang, 38, (right) were arrested for felony child endangerment in May after cops found they had 21 children from surrogate mothers
In a GoFundMe set up by Kayla Elliot as she tries to regain custody of her baby girl, she wrote that her child ‘deserves stability, love, and a safe home.’
All of the children were taken into the custody of Department of Children and Family Services, with Elliot saying she wants to take her home to Texas to be ‘in a nurturing environment rather than staying in foster care.’
Elliot told ABC7 that she believed the couple were clients of a surrogate agency, however cops now believe they were allegedly running the agency themselves.
‘It’s horrific, it’s disturbing, it’s damaging emotionally,’ she said.
Elliot said the couple told her they only had one other child, and is now hoping to get custody of the child she bore for them.
‘These agencies, we’re supposed to trust them and follow their guidance and come to find out this whole thing was a scam, and the parents own the agency – that was not disclosed at all beforehand,’ she added.
Elliot said she is now hoping to regain custody of the child she bore for the couple, and described the allegations as ‘horrific, disturbing, (and) damaging emotionally’
Neighbors said the couple’s lavish mansion was set up ‘like a hotel’, with a lobby and nine bedrooms
Xuan and Zhang were released following their arrest in May, but Arcadia police say they are still searching for Li, the nanny, who allegedly abused the children in the home.
Detectives told CBS News that other nannies employed by the couple were also seen abusing the children in home security cameras.
Although having dozens of children through surrogates is not illegal, officials said they are investigating the startling find inside the home.
The sheer number of children involved and the fact many are so close in age to one another has raised alarm bells.
Kallie Fell, executive director of the nonprofit Center of Bioethics and Culture, told ABC7 that while the couple may not have broken the law by having so many surrogate children, the situation made her fear they were part of a human trafficking ring.
Fell, who is working with Elliot, said that the surrogacy industry is unregulated, and oftentimes, ‘anything goes.’
‘And these clinics, these agencies are not regulated by any governing body,’ she said.
‘That to me smells of trafficking… What are the intentions of having that many children at home through these assisted reproductive technologies?’
Officials issued an arrest warrant for their nanny Chunmei Li, 56, (pictured), who allegedly abused the children ‘verbally and physically’
It is unclear what the couple do for work or how they acquired their considerable wealth, with public records showing they are connected to a number of investment firms.
Arcadia police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo said that the couple ‘took legal guardianship of those kids’ after they were born through surrogates, before Li allegedly abused the children as their nanny.
‘The discipline, both verbally and physical, was severe to the point where it supported the beliefs that child abuse was occurring inside the home Cieadlo said.
The Arcadia police said the FBI has joined its investigation into a suspected mass-surrogacy operation owned and ran by Xuan and Zhang.
