Cops Investigating Couple With 21 Kids, Many Born by Surrogate

Twenty-one children are in the custody of a California child-welfare agency while authorities, including the FBI, investigate a Los Angeles-area couple and whether they misled surrogate mothers around the country, the AP reports. Fifteen children were removed from the couple's opulent home in Arcadia after an abuse allegation in May, and another six living elsewhere were also located, Arcadia police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo said. They range in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3. "We believe one or two were born biologically to the mother," he said. "There are some surrogates who have come forward and said they were surrogates for the children." Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65, are believed to be the legal parents, Cieadlo said.

They were arrested in May after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of a nanny at the home violently shaking the baby, Arcadia police said. The child was not taken to the hospital for another two days. Cieadlo said neglect charges were not formally pursued in order for an investigation to continue. The couple told police that they "wanted a large family," the lieutenant said. Zhang produced what appeared to be legitimate birth certificates, including some from outside California, that list her as the mother of the children, Cieadlo said. TV stations in Los Angeles quoted women who said they were surrogate mothers for the couple but that they didn't realize so many other surrogates were also involved.

One of the surrogates, Kayla Elliott, says she was in touch with a surrogacy agency—but authorities later discovered the agency was registered at the couple's address, NBC News reports. The most recent filing shows the business license was terminated in June, but a surrogate who is currently pregnant tells NBC the agency has continued to contact her. Kallie Fell, director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture, which believes surrogacy exploits women, posted a recent YouTube video of her interview with Elliott, who gave birth last spring. "She was lied to. She was told this couple had one other child and they wanted one more child to complete a family," Fell told The Associated Press. "She didn't know they were the owners of the surrogacy agency. They operate with zero oversight." Elliott is trying to raise money to seek to have the child placed with her.