Crime Bill Cosby Found Guilty of Sexually Assaulting Teen at Playboy Mansion in 1975 Though his legal team was there, Bill Cosby was not in attendance as the verdict was read in a Santa Monica courtroom on Tuesday By Christine Pelisek Christine Pelisek Christine Pelisek is a senior crime writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2014. People Editorial Guidelines and Olivia Jakiel Olivia Jakiel Olivia Jakiel is a former associate editor at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2022. People Editorial Guidelines Published on June 21, 2022 07:35PM EDT Bill Cosby. Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty A civil jury ruled in favor of Judy Huth, who accused Bill Cosby of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teen, after a two-week long trial. The verdict was read in a Santa Monica, California, court room on Tuesday after the jury began deliberating on Thursday, per The New York Times and the Associated Press. Huth was awarded $500,000 in damages, and though Cosby's legal team was in attendance on Tuesday, the former actor was not in court as the verdict was read, according to Deadline. Huth, 64, alleged that Cosby molested her in a bedroom at the Playboy Mansion — Hugh Hefner's famed Holmby Hills estate — when she was 16 years old. Huth filed a civil lawsuit in 2014 seeking damages for emotional distress. In the lawsuit, Huth alleged she met the comedian in 1975 when she and a 17-year-old friend were watching a movie being filmed in a San Marino park in Los Angeles. She says Cosby approached the pair and asked them to come sit with him. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. He allegedly invited the girls to meet him at his tennis club the following Saturday, when he allegedly "served them alcoholic beverages" while they played billiards. Huth alleges that she was required to drink a beer every time Cosby won. For more on this story, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day. After the girls had allegedly been served multiple alcoholic beverages, Cosby told them he had a "surprise" for them and brought them to the Playboy Mansion, according to a civil suit she filed against Cosby. Cosby allegedly told the girls to say they were 19 if anyone asked. When Huth told Cosby she needed to use the bathroom, he directed her to a bathroom in a bedroom suite, according to the suit. When she emerged, she found Cosby sitting on the bed. He asked her to sit down and proceeded to sexually molest her without her consent, the lawsuit alleged. Judy Huth. Anthony McCartney/AP Photo Why a Pennsylvania Court Released Bill Cosby from Prison After His Sexual Assault Conviction The statute of limitations had expired for a criminal case, but California law allows victims of underage sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits decades after the alleged incidents take place. Last June, Cosby was released from prison after his conviction in the Andrea Constand case was overturned. Constand was an administrator with the Temple University women's basketball team when she says Cosby, whom she considered to be a mentor, drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, home in 2004. In its judgment, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the decision to use Cosby's statements from a previous deposition — where Cosby admitted he gave quaaludes to women with whom he wanted to have sex — against him deprived him of his Fifth Amendment rights because a previous prosecutor had promised not to charge him in exchange for sitting for the deposition. Cosby, the court stated, had been subject to "an unconstitutional 'coercive bait-and-switch,' " which the court characterized as a "due process violation." The high court's decision also prevented the prosecutor from refiling the criminal charges. If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.