Arcadia couple plead not guilty; bail set at $20 million each

Arcadia residents Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang pleaded not guilty to felony charges alleging child abuse and efforts to dissuade witnesses. At their October 6 arraignment in Pasadena, a judge set bail at $20 million each, below the $100 million per defendant prosecutors had requested.

The charges mark a new step in a criminal case concerning children connected to the couple’s Arcadia home. The allegations have not been proven. Xuan and Zhang were held in lieu of bail, according to local reporting.

Charges and court conditions

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged each defendant with conspiracy to commit child abuse. Xuan also faces one felony count of child abuse, one count of being an accessory after the fact and five counts of dissuading a witness. Zhang faces one accessory count and four counts of dissuading a witness. The case is filed as 26PDCF00918.

Prosecutors sought $100 million bail for each defendant, citing the alleged offenses and flight risk. Judge Kerry White set bail at $20 million apiece. The Associated Press reported that the judge ordered home detention and barred visits with the children. The Los Angeles Times reported additional release conditions: surrendering passports, home confinement and no contact with the children. The defendants were not reported released.

The DA’s office says Xuan could face a maximum of 17 years and four months in prison, and Zhang 11 years and eight months, if convicted as charged. Those are prosecution-stated possible maximums, not sentences imposed.

Prosecutors’ account of the allegations

The DA alleges the couple conspired to subject 15 of the 16 children living at the home to repeated physical abuse. It separately said at least 14 surrogate-born children were allegedly abused, including children as young as 2 months old. The agency’s account of the complaint says more than 30 cameras monitored children and nannies, and that alleged abuse was recorded over 11 days, from April 27 to May 7, 2025.

According to prosecutors, the investigation followed a 2-month-old boy’s head injury. They allege nanny Chunmei Li struck the child on May 4, 2025, and that Xuan and Zhang did not seek medical care until two days later. The DA says Li was previously charged separately with felony child abuse and that a $105,000 arrest warrant remained outstanding as of October 6.

The child counts describe different groups: the DA’s allegation concerns children living at the home, while the AP reported that 21 children were located overall. The AP said 15 had been removed from the home the prior year and six were living elsewhere; their ages ranged from 2 months to 13 years.

The defendants denied the allegations, the AP reported. Xuan’s attorney, Mitchell Krems, disputed Xuan’s participation and said the nannies were responsible, according to the Los Angeles Times. A further appearance, described by MyNewsLA as a bail-review hearing, was scheduled for October 12.