trouble with flex & mysql

Hi all,
I'm new to using FLEX and ActionScript (but I have a lot of experience using PHP, MySQL, JavaScript AJAX, etc)
Anyhow, I'm trying to put a new FLEX frontend on an existing project that currently has an HTML/CSS/JavaScript frontend. I know all of the php functions work in and of themselves, but I'm trying to request data from MySQL via PHP from this new FLEX frontend I've built out, and I'm encountering errors. Specifically, here is the error message that I get when the user clicks the button that should be gathering the data from the database and populating a DataGrid control:

Error: Unexpected < encountered
at com.adobe.serialization.json::JSONTokenizer/parseError()[C:\Development\ContractProjects\ Adobe\as3corelib\src\com\adobe\serialization\json\JSONTokenizer.as:546]
at com.adobe.serialization.json::JSONTokenizer/getNextToken()[C:\Development\ContractProject s\Adobe\as3corelib\src\com\adobe\serialization\json\JSONTokenizer.as:171]
at com.adobe.serialization.json::JSONDecoder/nextToken()[C:\Development\ContractProjects\Ado be\as3corelib\src\com\adobe\serialization\json\JSONDecoder.as:86]
at com.adobe.serialization.json::JSONDecoder()[C:\Development\ContractProjects\Adobe\as3core lib\src\com\adobe\serialization\json\JSONDecoder.as:63]
at com.adobe.serialization.json::JSON$/decode()[C:\Development\ContractProjects\Adobe\as3cor elib\src\com\adobe\serialization\json\JSON.as:81]
at ClientManager/handleFooRes()[C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Flex Builder 3\ClientManager\src\ClientManager.mxml:224]
at ClientManager/__search_all_foo_serv_result()[C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Flex Builder 3\ClientManager\src\ClientManager.mxml:265]
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at mx.rpc.http.mxml::HTTPService/http://www.adobe.com/2006/flex/mx/internal::dispatchRpcEvent()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\pro jects\rpc\src\mx\rpc\http\mxml\HTTPService.as:290
at mx.rpc::AbstractInvoker/http://www.adobe.com/2006/flex/mx/internal::resultHandler()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projec ts\rpc\src\mx\rpc\AbstractInvoker.as:193
at mx.rpc::Responder/result()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\rpc\src\mx\rpc\Responder.as:4 3]
at mx.rpc::AsyncRequest/acknowledge()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\rpc\src\mx\rpc\AsyncR equest.as:74]
at DirectHTTPMessageResponder/completeHandler()[E:\dev\3.1.0\frameworks\projects\rpc\src\mx\ messaging\channels\DirectHTTPChannel.as:381]
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at flash.net::URLLoader/onComplete()

I'll post some of the pertinent code below:
Here are my imports:
import flash.net.sendToURL;
import mx.automation.codec.AssetPropertyCodec;
import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent;
import mx.controls.TextInput;
import mx.events.DataGridEvent;
import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
import com.adobe.serialization.json.JSON;

This is the array collection that will serve as the DataProvider for the DataGrid:
[Bindable]
private var searchDataArray:ArrayCollection;

This is the control that the user uses to submit the request for data from the DB:
<mx:VBox label="Search Records">
<mx:TabNavigator id="searchwin" width="100%" height="100%">
<mx:VBox label="foo">
<mx:HBox label="foo" id="searchfoo">
<mx:Label text="Find: "/>
<mx:TextInput id="foo_search_param"/>
<mx:Label text="In"/>
<mx:ComboBox dataProvider="{fooarray}" id="foo_search_filter"></mx:ComboBox>
<mx:Button id="foo_search_submit" label="Search Records" click="showSearchFooGrid()"></mx:Button>
<mx:Button id="foo_search_all" label="Get All Records" click="showAllFooGrid()"></mx:Button>
</mx:HBox>
<mx:DataGrid id="searchFooGrid" visible="false" width="100%" height="50%" dataProvider="{searchDataArray}">
<mx:columns>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="ID" dataField="cb_id"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Status" dataField="status"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Service Date" dataField="service_date"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="First Name" dataField="customer_first_name"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Last Name" dataField="customer_last_name"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Start" dataField="start"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="City" dataField="city"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="State" dataField="state"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Store Number" dataField="store_num"/>
<mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Order Number" dataField="order_num"/>
</mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>
<mx:TextArea id="searchFooNotes" wordWrap="true" width="100%" height="40%" visible="false"/>
<mx:Label id="searchFooLabel"></mx:Label>
</mx:VBox>

The grid will not be visible to the user until the button is clicked. This is the function that makes the grid visible, and triggers the HTTPService object to send the request to PHP:
private function showAllFooGrid():void
{
searchFooGrid.visible = true;
searchFooNotes.visible = true;
search_all_foo_serv.send();
}

Here is the HTTPService object it calls:
<mx:HTTPService id="search_all_foo_serv" url="./php/phpfile.php" useProxy="false" method="GET" resultFormat="text" result="handleFooRes(event)">
<mx:request xmlns="">
<rec_action>"show_all"</rec_action>
<search_type>"foo"</search_type>
</mx:request>
</mx:HTTPService>

Here is the result handler:
private function handleFooRes(event:ResultEvent):void
{
var rawArray:Array;
var rawData:String = String(event.result);
rawArray = JSON.decode(rawData) as Array;
searchDataArray = new ArrayCollection(rawArray);
searchFooNotes.text = rawArray.text;
}

FWIW, here's the related portion of the php backend:
the foo class that gets instantiated in $cdata contains no methods, and only empty properties to be filled by the queried DB data.
public function getAllFromFoo()
{
$query = sprintf("SELECT * FROM foo");

$res = @mysql_query($query, $this->sql);
if (!$res) { return false; }
$fooarray = array();
while ($data = @mysql_fetch_assoc($res))
{
$cdata = new foo();
$cdata->status = $data['status'];
$cdata->customer_first_name = $data['customer_first_name'];
$cdata->customer_last_name = $data['customer_last_name'];
$cdata->start = $data['start'];
$cdata->city = $data['city'];
$cdata->state = $data['state'];
$cdata->service_date = $data['service_date'];
$cdata->store_num = $data['store_num'];
$cdata->order_num = $data['order_num'];
$cdata->notes = $data['notes'];
array_push($fooarray, $cdata);
}
@mysql_free_result($res);
echo json_encode($fooarray);
}

if anyone could help me figure out why I'm receiving these errors, I would greatly appreciate it.
Feel free to post any answers here, or to my email at the following account:
jsteele1_at_mail.com (replace the '_at_' with '@' [obviously])
Thanks in advance,
Jason.