Yes—police really found 21 surrogate babies in one Arcadia mansion.

But the most jaw-dropping part isn’t the headcount; it’s the unanswered question: why did one couple quietly assemble the equivalent of an entire preschool in less than three years? Keep reading to see what’s proven, what’s rumor, and where the investigation now points.

The Discovery: A “Hotel” Full of Infants

When officers walked into 1027 Foothill Boulevard on 16 July 2025, they expected to check a child-endangerment tip.
What they describe finding instead was surreal:

• A nine-bedroom home staged like a hotel lobby—complete with front desk.
• Twenty-one children, 17 of them toddlers three or younger, lined up in cribs and playpens.
• Security-camera footage of nanny Chunmei Li, 56, violently shaking a baby. (Police issued an arrest warrant; Li is on the run.)

All 21 children were immediately placed in protective custody, Arcadia Police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo told ABC7. The FBI has since joined the probe.

ABC7 report | KCAL/KCBS coverage

Who Are the Parents?

• Guojun Xuan, 65, and Silvia Zhang, 38, listed as guardians of every child.
• The pair own (or recently purchased) the roughly $4 million mansion.
• Public filings link them to at least two investment firms, but so far no steady income source explains the childcare costs—let alone the surrogacy fees.

Zhang, in a brief statement to KTLA, called officials “misguided and wrong” and vowed to fight any allegations.

How Did They Get 21 Babies So Fast?

According to detectives—and corroborated by multiple surrogate mothers—Xuan and Zhang ran their own agency, “Mark Surrogacy,” while posing as ordinary clients.

1. They recruited women around the U.S.
2. Each surrogate was told she was carrying for a couple who had “one other child.”
3. None realized embryos from the same intended parents were being implanted simultaneously nationwide.

Surrogate Kayla Elliot (now 27, per her social-media posts) says she learned the truth only after seeing her baby’s photo in news coverage. She’s launched a GoFundMe to regain custody.

Trafficking or “Just” Extreme Parenting?

Having dozens of children through surrogacy is not illegal in California. What worries experts:

• Scale: 17 babies under three suggests industrial-level planning.
• Agency Ownership: Recruiting surrogates while posing as neutral intermediaries may violate contract-law and ethical standards.
• Abuse Evidence: Video shows at least two nannies assaulting children, strengthening a felony child-endangerment case.

Kallie Fell, executive director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, told ABC7 the setup “smells of trafficking.”
So far, police have not announced trafficking charges; the investigation is ongoing.

What the Original Viral Story Got Wrong

Everything else—child count, nanny abuse, FBI involvement—checks out.

Unanswered Questions

1. Money Trail: How did Xuan and Zhang fund 21 surrogate pregnancies, newborn care, and a staff of nannies?
2. End Game: Were they building a family, planning illegal adoptions, or something else?
3. Agency Records: Where are the contracts, and do they reveal additional surrogate pregnancies still in progress?

Why This Matters to You

Surrogacy in the United States operates in a patchwork of state laws with virtually no federal oversight. As Fell puts it, “anything goes.” The Arcadia case is an extreme outlier, but it spotlights real vulnerabilities:

• Informational asymmetry: Surrogates often rely on agencies for truth; here, the agency allegedly was the client.
• Child-welfare blind spots: Until nanny-cam footage surfaced, no authority—even pediatricians—flagged 21 infants living at one address.
• Cross-state loopholes: Surrogates in multiple states mean multiple judges, contracts, and medical records—none of whom compare notes.

The Bottom Line

Yes, a California couple really assembled 21 surrogate children in one mansion—and yes, nanny-cam videos show horrific abuse.
What we still don’t know is whether this was a grotesque attempt at an oversized family or the front end of a trafficking pipeline. Investigators—and the 21 children now in state care—are racing to find the answer.

Have a tip? Arcadia Police ask anyone with information on Chunmei Li or “Mark Surrogacy” to call (626) 574-5156.

Reported by [Your Name], with source links to ABC7, KCAL/KCBS, The Daily Beast and public real-estate records. All facts current as of 18 July 2025; new information may change the picture.