In no surprise to anyone following the recent lifestyle choices of Craig Hendry, the self-proclaimed historical figure was removed from his own lawsuit against Lake County, Indiana.
Hendry, along with “best friend” Tyler Pierce, were suing Oscar Martinez, who is the Sheriff of Lake County, Indiana, officer Joseph Kraus and Lake County itself for false arrest, battery and false imprisonment based on a 2022 arrest.
The YouTuber was charged with felony intimidation, misdemeanor criminal trespass and misdemeanor probation in the incident. The case was ultimately dismissed for undisclosed reasons before it went to trial.
Hendry and Kraus contend in the suit that the officers knew that the defendants were not breaking the law at the time of the arrest but proceeded to arrest the men anyway. This was also part of a malicious prosecution scheme.
Martinez is further charged with negligently hiring, retaining, supervising and training Kraus.
The lawsuit itself was filed in January of 2024 and proceeded without notable development until Magistrate Judge John E. Martin was replaced by Magistrate Judge Abizer Zanzi in June of 2024.
Following the change of judge, things were again quiet with the case until May of 2025 when defendant Hendry was coming to the end of his time in the Vermillion, Ohio, county jail after being found guilty of charges of felony harassment and misdemeanor intimidation.
Hendry had apparently disagreed on the path forward in the lawsuit with his attorneys, who are also representing plaintiff Pierce, and both attorneys filed to be removed as his legal representation in May.
Defendant Hendry began to file motions as a pro se defendant but was rebuffed as his attorneys had not yet been removed from the lawsuit. The removal happened in June, as Hendry was briefly housed in the Sullivan County Jail due to maintenance issues at the Vermillion County Jail.
Since then, all attempts to send Hendry updates on the suit being marked “return to sender” from each of the addresses delivery was attempted at. Hendry was then ordered to appear at a show cause hearing in early October. He failed to attend the hearing and repeated efforts to contact Hendry again resulted in mail being marked “return to sender.”
Hendry was ultimately removed from the lawsuit on November 3, 2025, following no objection from the participants in the case.
Judge Philip P. Simon wrote: “Judge Zanzi recommends that I dismiss Hendry from this lawsuit pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) as a sanction for failing to follow court orders and failing to prosecute this lawsuit. [DE 49 at 6]. As explained in Judge Zanzi’s report, Rule 41(b) allows a court to dismiss an action “if the plaintiff fails to prosecute or to comply with these rules or a court order.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b). In this case, Plaintiff has been given multiple opportunities to prosecute his case after he requested that his attorney be withdrawn. And while there has been a lack of clarity regarding Hendry’s current address, Hendry is also able to view the Court’s orders on the public docket or visit the Clerk’s office to obtain updates on the status of the case. As Judge Zanzi explains, it is impossible to know if less severe sanctions would be effective because Hendry has failed to communicate the reason for his failure to appear.”
The lawsuit itself will now proceed to discovery, with plaintiff Pierce opting to continue the case.
