Hochman charges Arcadia pair in abuse of surrogate-born children
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has charged an Arcadia man and woman with conspiring to abuse more than a dozen children born through surrogacy, some as young as 2 months old, at the mansion where they all lived.
Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, each face a count of conspiracy to commit child abuse, plus counts of being an accessory after the fact and dissuading witnesses. Xuan also faces a felony child abuse charge. Prosecutors asked a judge to set bail at $100 million for each, citing flight risk and the scope of the alleged crimes.
“The number of children who were subjected to this alleged horrific abuse is unprecedented. The alleged corporal abuse of these children is appalling and revolting, especially at the hands of those who were supposed to protect them,” said Hochman.
The pair ran their own surrogacy company and allegedly told at least two women who became surrogates that Zhang was struggling to conceive, according to the criminal complaint. Sixteen children lived in the home, and Xuan and Zhang are accused of conspiring to subject 15 of them to repeated physical abuse. Nannies supervised the children for hours a day in makeshift classrooms monitored by more than 30 cameras. The complaint says one room had no camera, and children could be heard screaming inside.
Between April 27 and May 7, 2025, nannies were caught on video spanking, slapping and hitting the children, according to the complaint. On April 30, Xuan allegedly told a nanny to hit a child harder, then struck the child himself.
The alleged abuse came to light when police responded to a report of a 2-month-old boy with a head injury. A nanny, Chunmei Li, is accused of hitting the baby on May 4. Xuan and Zhang allegedly waited two days to seek medical care, then told hospital staff the baby had fallen from a bed. Before police arrived on May 7, the pair allegedly told some of the children to deny they had been beaten, and Zhang allegedly told a nanny to hide sticks used to strike them.
Li was previously charged with felony child abuse, and a $105,000 warrant for her arrest remains outstanding.
If convicted, Xuan faces up to 17 years and four months in state prison, Zhang up to 11 years and eight months, and Li up to 12 years.
Zbur bill ends Santa Monica’s 50-year coastal plan logjam
Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, Westwood Village) won Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature on AB 1740, giving Santa Monica a path to take back most coastal permitting decisions after five decades without a certified Local Coastal Program.
The law sets a defined process, with timelines, accountability measures and reporting requirements, for the city and the California Coastal Commission to finish certifying Santa Monica’s plan. Once it’s certified, the city will process most coastal development permits itself instead of sending them to the commission for separate approval, while the commission keeps its oversight role.
The City of Santa Monica and the advocacy group Streets For All sponsored the bill.
“Getting to this agreement was no small undertaking. It took months of hard work, difficult conversations, and a willingness from stakeholders with very different perspectives to stay at the table and find common ground,” said Zbur.
The law also creates a statewide fast-track for bike, pedestrian and transit projects that improve public access to the coast. The Coastal Commission can use expedited procedures for qualifying projects in public rights-of-way, and must be more transparent about approvals, denials and pending applications.
“Cities up and down the coast make their own permitting decisions under coastal programs the state has certified. Santa Monica is one of the last that doesn’t. AB 1740 puts us on the clock to get there; now the work is ours,” said Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis.
Allen bill creates low-interest loans for wildfire home hardening
State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach) saw Gov. Gavin Newsom sign his legislation, SB 894, creating a state-backed, low-interest loan program to help homeowners and businesses pay for home hardening and defensible space.
The California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program, to be run by the State Treasurer’s Office, is modeled on the state’s GoGreen energy-efficiency financing platform. The bill passed the Legislature unanimously. A UC Berkeley study found that structures with key hardening and defensible space features were more than twice as likely to survive a wildfire as those without, according to Allen’s office.
“California is taking an important step toward making wildfire resilience more affordable. SB 894 will help homeowners and businesses access low-interest financing to harden their properties and create defensible space — reducing risk before the next wildfire strikes,” said Allen.
The program arrives as affordable insurance grows harder to find in fire-prone areas, and as home hardening becomes central to the state’s push to keep communities insurable. Allen’s district includes Pacific Palisades, where the January 2025 fire destroyed thousands of structures.
“If we want safer communities and a more stable insurance market, we have to help Californians take meaningful steps to protect their homes without putting those improvements financially out of reach,” said Allen.
Torres lands $25 million for SR-71 freeway upgrade in Pomona
U.S. Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona, San Bernardino County) announced that LA Metro will receive a $25 million federal grant for the second phase of the State Route 71 Gap Closure Project in Pomona.
The money, from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s INFRA program for nationally significant freight and highway projects, will help turn the four-lane expressway between Interstate 10 and Mission Boulevard into an eight-lane freeway.
The project adds a carpool lane and a regular lane in each direction, auxiliary lanes, new railroad bridges, soundwalls and an accessible pedestrian bridge at Ninth Street. Torres, who sits on the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees transportation funding, wrote to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in support of Metro’s application.
“Anyone who drives the 71 knows how badly these improvements are needed. I urged the Department of Transportation to support this project because families in Pomona and across the Inland Empire deserve safer roads, shorter commutes, and infrastructure that can keep up with our growing region,” said Torres.
The roughly two-mile phase will complete consistent upgrades along SR-71 from SR-91 to I-10, a corridor linking Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said the project, approved by voters under Measure M, will cut congestion and travel times and improve the movement of goods across the region.
