Los Angeles Police Department detectives met Friday with a woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by embattled comedian and actor Bill Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in 1974 when she was 15.
Judy Huth, who filed a lawsuit against Cosby on Tuesday, met detectives at the LAPD’s downtown headquarters to request an investigation of Cosby, attorney Gloria Allred said.
Allred and her law firm were not involved in the filing of the civil suit.
No additional information about the meeting was available, said Officer Jane Kim of the LAPD’s Media Relations Section.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Thursday that the department will investigate any sexual assault allegations made against the 77-year-old entertainer.
“We don’t turn people away because things are out of statute,” Beck said. “You come to us, especially with a sexual allegation, we will work with you.”
Allred said Huth met with the detectives “because she believes that it is important that Bill Cosby be investigated and Chief Beck has clearly indicated that regardless of when the alleged offense occurred, if it happened within the city of Los Angeles, he will investigate the claim.”
In other words, we are here to accept Chief Beck’s invitation ….,” she said.
In her lawsuit, Huth contends she and a friend met Cosby in 1974 when they walked to the set of a film being shot in San Marino. She and her friend, who was 16 at the time, spoke to the actor and he invited them to his tennis club the following Saturday, according to the lawsuit.
When the girls went to the club, Cosby directed them to follow him to a house, where he gave them alcohol and they played billiards. He then led them to another house, which turned out to be the Playboy Mansion, according to the lawsuit.
At some point Huth told Cosby she needed to use the bathroom, according to the suit.
“Cosby directed her to a bathroom within a bedroom suite near the game room,” the lawsuit states. “When plaintiff emerged from the bathroom, she found Cosby sitting on the bed. He asked her to sit beside him. He then proceeded to sexually molest her by attempting to put his hand down her pants, and then taking her hand in his hand and performing a sex act on himself without her consent.”
Huth contends she has suffered “psychological damage and mental anguish” throughout her life, but only recently discovered the problems were “caused by the sexual abuse perpetrated by Cosby.”
The lawsuit alleges sexual battery, intention infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The complaint seeks unspecified damages.
In recent weeks, at least 20 women have accused Cosby of sexually abusing them. Many also claim they were drugged or plied with alcohol.
Cosby attorney Martin Singer has denied all wrongdoing by his client.
Allred called on others who believe they have been victimized “to go to the LAPD and ask them to investigate…,” but she declined to comment on Huth’s lawsuit because it was filed by another attorney.
“We understand that Mr. Cosby, in his defense to that lawsuit, has raised some issues and arguments,” she said.
Indeed, attorneys for Cosby filed a motion Wednesday calling for dismissal of Huth’s lawsuit, saying the complain amounts to “extortion.”
They state in their court papers that Huth tried and failed a decade ago to get money from a tabloid by telling the same story that is now the subject of her lawsuit.
In addition to seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, Cosby’s lawyers also want their client to be reimbursed for about $30,000 in legal fees and costs.
On Wednesday, Allred held a news conference with three accusers — two of them speaking about it publicly for the first time — and called on Cosby to establish a $100 million fund and go to an arbitrator to sort out civil damages, or to waive the statute of limitations so both he and his accusers could have their day in court.
In a related story, a vandal overnight scrawled “rapist” on Cosby’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Photos of the defaced star circulating on social media showed the word written three times in black ink on the sidewalk marker.
“The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an institution celebrating the positive contributions of the inductees,” the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. “When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways than to vandalize a California state landmark.”
The markings were removed from the Cosby star.
