I just covered this unit in Language Arts, and I know for one that this IS proper writing. As long as you add to the sentence that begins with "Because", it'll work. It could be "Ryan died, because he fell off of a cliff." or "Because he fell off of a cliff, Ryan died." It's like having just a normal sentence, adding because to it, add a comma at the end of the original sentence, and then add a sentence that may state the effect. it's like: Because independent clause, independent clause. I will not go into detail about independent clauses, because that would be off topic. OR: Becasue it would be off topic, I will not go into independent clauses.
You've just been pwned by DaibsleR