Latest / Crime Alert Hourly Update / Arcadia House of Horrors: Parents of 26 Surrogate-Carried Children Charged in Massive Abuse Case | Crime Alert 11.09.26

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Arcadia House of Horrors: Parents of 26 Surrogate-Carried Children Charged in Massive Abuse Case | Crime Alert 11.09.26 · Crime Alert Hourly Update

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvani. A wealthy California businessman and his associate
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  Speaker 2: are facing grave criminal charges after authorities uncovered an alleged
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  Speaker 2: house of horrors where dozens of children born through surrogacy
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  Speaker 2: were systematically abused. On October 6, 2026, 67-year-old Guzheng Shen
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  Speaker 2: and 39-year-old Sylvia Zhang were charged by Los Angeles prosecutors
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  Speaker 2: with conspiracy to commit child abuse involving at least 14
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  Speaker 2: children between the ages of two months and five years,
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  Speaker 2: alongside charges of preventing five children from reporting crimes to
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  Speaker 2: law enforcement. Authorities reveal the pair accumulated 26 children, all
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  Speaker 2: but one born through commercial surrogacy, paying women nationwide $ 45, 000
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  Speaker 2: to $ 135, 000 through marked surrogacy investments. Riverside nursing student Amber
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  Speaker 2: Applegarth recalled carrying a boy for Shen and his then-wife
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  Speaker 2: Yuquin Li in 2018, only to endure complete isolation, communicating
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  Speaker 2: solely through sparse WeChat messages. Shen never attended the June
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  Speaker 2: 2019 birth, sending Zhang a day late while the abandoned
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  Speaker 2: newborn waited in the hospital nursery. A 17-month investigation culminated
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  Speaker 2: in a raid on the couple's 10,000-square-foot Arcadia mansion. Detectives
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  Speaker 2: discovered classrooms where uniformed children sporting shaved heads were forced
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  Speaker 2: to sit in rigid rows for hours under 32 surveillance cameras,
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  Speaker 2: facing severe beatings from nannies for crying. One nanny, Chunmei Li,
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  Speaker 2: has fled to China on felony abuse charges. Los Angeles
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  Speaker 2: County District Attorney Nathan Hotchman denounced the horrific compound.
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  Speaker 1: This case is... unprecedented, it is horrific, and the physical abuse, beating,
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  Speaker 1: and punishment that these very young children received is despicable.
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  Speaker 1: And this house could only be described as a house
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  Speaker 1: of horrors.
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  Speaker 2: Shen and Zhang have pleaded not guilty and remain held
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  Speaker 2: on $ 20 million bail each. Shen's attorney, Mitchell Krems, claimed
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  Speaker 2: his client never physically harmed the children, blaming the abuse
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  Speaker 2: entirely on nannies. However, prosecutors assert Shen and Zhang manage
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  Speaker 2: the punitive regime directly. Former employee Frank Acuna noted staff
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  Speaker 2: feared Zhang's violent temper, recalling explosive arguments over money and alcohol.
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  Speaker 2: Despite seven prior visits by Child Protective Services following a
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  Speaker 2: 2019 incident where Zhang left an eight-year-old in a hot car,
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  Speaker 2: no action was taken until May 2025, when Zhang brought
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  Speaker 2: an infant with severe brain bleeds to the emergency room.
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  Speaker 2: Authorities subsequently rescued 16 children from the mansion and five
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  Speaker 2: newborns from outside care. Mansion surveillance video captured nannies slamming
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  Speaker 2: children onto tables and Shen personally battering a toddler, as
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  Speaker 2: District Attorney Hotchman revealed.
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  Speaker 1: This defendant, Xuan, also lifted the child into the air
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  Speaker 1: by one arm while continuing to strike him and repeatedly
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  Speaker 1: struck the child's head from side to side. with sufficient
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  Speaker 1: force that the child's body lurched in alternating directions with
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  Speaker 1: the blows.
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  Speaker 2: Five surrogates have now filed civil lawsuits alleging emotional distress
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  Speaker 2: and gender violence, while surrogate Hallie Weaver confronted Zhang via text,
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  Speaker 2: receiving only an apology. If convicted, Shen faces 17 years
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  Speaker 2: in prison, while Zhang faces 11. More crime and justice
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  Speaker 2: news after this. In southeast Texas, authorities investigating the disappearance
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  Speaker 2: of a 46-year-old mother have arrested a local man previously
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  Speaker 2: celebrated for hurricane relief efforts. Julia Renee Carter was reported
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  Speaker 2: missing on October 16 after failing to show up for work,
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  Speaker 2: prompting a welfare check at her count's home. On October 21,
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  Speaker 2: police arrested her 42-year-old boyfriend, Darren Monk, charging him with
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  Speaker 2: murder resulting from domestic violence. Investigators allege Monk fled following
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  Speaker 2: an initial interview with detectives sparking a multi-agency manhunt before
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  Speaker 2: the U.S. Marshals captured him in Katy, Texas. Carter's body
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  Speaker 2: has not been found, leaving her three children and mother
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  Speaker 2: desperately searching. Her sister-in-law, Courtney Shaw, voiced the family's anguish
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  Speaker 2: on social media, begging for answers to bring Julia home,
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  Speaker 2: while the Hardin County Crime Victims Assistance Center dedicated an
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  Speaker 2: annual vigil in her memory. Monk previously gained praise in
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  Speaker 2: 2017 for housing Hurricane Harvey victims, featured on the blog
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  Speaker 2: Discover Southeast Texas with Lori Goetz. However, authorities are also
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  Speaker 2: aware of online allegations from 2023 claiming Monk used aliases
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  Speaker 2: and inappropriately took photos of women and young girls. Monk
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  Speaker 2: is held on $ 1 million bail. In Colorado, a repeat
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  Speaker 2: offender is heading to prison after a routine traffic stop
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  Speaker 2: escalated into an explosive high-speed chase that prosecutors insist should
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  Speaker 2: have never happened. 24-year-old Zachary Dean Hirshfield of Centennial was
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  Speaker 2: sentenced to five years behind bars after pleading guilty to
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  Speaker 2: felony eluding in Douglas County. The chaos erupted in Castle
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  Speaker 2: Pines when a deputy pulled Hirshfield over for speeding. Hirshfield
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  Speaker 2: suddenly accelerated toward the officer, forcing him to jump aside
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  Speaker 2: before barreling through traffic at over 100 miles per hour,
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  Speaker 2: crossing medians and crashing into another vehicle. Hirshfield Hirschfeld fled
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  Speaker 2: on foot, abandoning his screaming female passenger alongside cocaine and
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  Speaker 2: drug paraphernalia. Thermal drone cameras and canine units tracked Hirschfeld
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  Speaker 2: through Littleton, finding him an hour later hiding under a
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  Speaker 2: porch in his underwear. Put your hands behind your back.
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  Speaker 1: Behind your back.
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  Speaker 2: Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weakley warned that running from deputies
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  Speaker 2: will not be tolerated, while District Attorney George Brauchler sharply
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  Speaker 2: criticized prior court decisions. Brauchler noted Hirshfield had received probation
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  Speaker 2: for fentanyl distribution and was released without cash bail on
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  Speaker 2: a robbery charge just months earlier, warning criminals to commit
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  Speaker 2: their crimes somewhere more forgiving. For more crime and justice news,
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  Speaker 2: be sure to join us for Crime Stories with Nancy
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  Speaker 2: Grace on Fox 1, YouTube, Sirius XM, and now streaming
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  Speaker 2: on Tubi. With this crime alert, I'm Sydney Silvani.