Three high-risk sex offenders are currently wanted on Canada-wide warrants after failing to return to their Vancouver halfway houses — a number the Vancouver Police Department calls unusual and that some residents find unsettling.

Yesterday, police released a photo of Gary Vogrig, 51, a two-time federal offender on statutory release after serving time for sexual assault and threatening.

He was supposed to return to his halfway house Monday night, but didn't. Police aren't saying where the house is located.

Prior to that, Timothy Daniel Jones, 48, walked away from his halfway house. He has three prior convictions for sexual assault against teenaged and adult women.

And on May 7, Gerald Richard McLean, 46, also failed to return to a halfway house. He was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a teen in 1995 and a child in 2000.

A fourth high-risk sex offender, Richard Thomas Galt, was also wanted on a Canada-wide warrant this month, but was located in Abbotsford, B.C.

Const. Brian Montague called the number of cases "unusual."

"I can't recall when this many [high-risk sex offenders] have walked away from halfway houses in such a short time period," he said.

All men were staying in Vancouver, but could have left the Lower Mainland or B.C. by now, said police.

Unclear where men were staying

SFU Criminology professor Rob Gordon wonders whether all the men left the same halfway house, but police said they can't legally provide exact locations.

"If they're at the end of their sentence, that is a difficult group to be managing because there is really no way you can get them to come back — come back to what?" said Gordon.

Meanwhile some residents find the situation disturbing.

"It really does concern me. I am a confident girl, but confidence only goes so far," said Claire Dankewich, who passes a halfway walking home late from work in downtown Vancouver.

"Where are they? What are [police] doing to track them down?" asked Ken Robertson, who lives in Yaletown.

In all three cases, police are asking anyone who sees the men to not approach them, and call 911 immediately.